Julius Ssekitoleko, the Ugandan athlete who went missing last week from his pre-Olympic training camp in Osaka Prefecture has been found in Mie Prefecture, police sources in Japan said Tuesday.
Ssekitoleko, a weightlifter who was staying in the city of Izumisano, Osaka Prefecture, went missing Friday after leaving a note at his hotel saying he wanted to work in Japan as life in Uganda was difficult. The city and his team had been trying to locate him with help from police.
A statement by Uganda’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs says they are in the process of bringing him back home.
The development comes after police said Monday that a man believed to be Ssekitoleko had been spotted in footage from a surveillance camera at JR Nagoya Station.
He purchased a ticket to Nagoya on Friday morning, Izumisano officials said. He had a mobile phone but his passport had been kept by the Ugandan team, which arrived in Japan on June 19 about one month ahead of the opening of the Olympics.
Ssekitoleko, who is in his 20s, and his coach were due to return to Uganda this week after the athlete missed out on a spot for the Olympics, according to city and team officials.
On Friday, the weightlifter was not at his hotel when an Izumisano official attempted to receive his sample for COVID-19 testing at around noon. He was last seen at around 12:30 a.m. that day by a teammate.
