As the Tokyo Olympics finally get underway, Team GB has been given a clean bill of COVID health by its boss.

The athletes were immediately into their stride as the women's football team beat Chile 2-0 in their opening group game in Sapporo. Ellen White scored both goals.

Speaking before the action started, Mark England, Team GB's Chef De Mission, told Sky News they had already notched a victory of sorts (over COVID).

He said: "We have just shy of 800 athletes and team officials in country and not one has presented a positive test. And that is absolute testament to everything that we've done in the fortnight before.

"My sense is that it would be extraordinary if a British athlete tested positive coming into the Olympic environment, primarily because outside of this testing protocols are significant.

"That's not to say that it is a guarantee, and that's why absolutely everybody is on a daily basis, is working really, really hard to make sure that that does not happen."

He also confirmed that the six Team GB athletes who were close contacts of somebody on their flight into Japan who tested positive should be able to compete in their events and are back in training.

"The athletes concerned can still go to our preparation camp training environment," he said. "They can still train with the team as long as they adhere to social distancing as we are.

"And they can still, for those of them who are in the relay environment, they can still actually pass the baton."

Others were less fortunate, with Mexican baseball players Héctor Velázquez and Sammy Solís testing positive for COVID-19 and have been isolated at their rooms in the team hotel in Mexico City.

Earlier, Fernanda Aguirre, a Chilean taekwondo competitor and a Candy Jacobs, a Dutch skateboarder, tested positive.

Aguirre said on Instagram she was "devastated", adding "it's something that angers me a lot and I feel it's just unfair that my dream is crushed after so much sacrifice."

Jacobs described herself as "heartbroken".

The Games, which many feared would be cancelled altogether, are going ahead after a year-long delay, despite ongoing protests in Japan, COVID-19 infections inside the Athletes' Village and a spectator ban at almost all venues.

The host nation's softball team got things started by thrashing Australia in Fukushima, the part of Japan devastated by an earthquake and tsunami in 2011.

The opening ceremony takes place on Friday in Tokyo but because there are so many games in softball/baseball and women's football, those events start early.

Organisers have acknowledged that they cannot rule out significant disruption to the schedule or even cancelling the Games at this late stage.

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But they are confident they have everything in place to deal with the COVID-19 problems that will almost inevitably arise.

So far, more than 70 Games participants who have arrived in Japan have tested positive - some of them inside the Olympic Village, which is supposed to be an ultra-safe environment.

Among those is a Czech beach volleyball team coach and a player, two South African footballers and their match analyst.

Eighteen of their teammates were told they were close contacts.

Olympics organisers have been trying hard to convince the Japanese people and the competitors that Tokyo 2020 is as safe as it can be. Tokyo is already under a state of emergency due to rising infection numbers.

International Olympic Committee President Thomas Bach has revealed that organisers had "sleepless nights" when they were deciding whether or not to go ahead.

He said: "Cancellation would have been easy. We could have drawn on the insurance policies we had taken out. But in fact, cancellation was never an option for us.

"The IOC never abandons the athletes."

Team GB weightlifter Emily Muskett told Sky News the restrictions and daily testing are just something the athletes are getting on with.

"It is the way of the world at the moment," she said.

"We are used to it... we are used to protecting ourselves and competing in this environment.

"I'm just so glad it has gone ahead because there was a chance that it was going to be cancelled again. We don't mind wearing masks and doing all these tests because we are achieving our dreams."

The postponement of last summer's event is estimated to have cost the organisers £2.5bn.

As for this year's attempt, expect empty stadiums, unpredictable competitions, moments of intense sporting drama and the constant threat of COVID-19 disrupting the plans.