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Ugandan Olympic Weightlifter Who Vanished in Japan Has Been Found

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The 20-year-old reportedly left a note ahead of his disappearance last week saying that he didn’t want to go back to his home country.

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Dean Mouhtaropoulos/Getty

The Ugandan weightlifter who disappeared in Japan after failing to qualify for the Tokyo Olympics last week has been found.

Julius Ssekitoleko, 20, left a note ahead of his disappearance which said that life in Uganda was too hard and he wanted to stay in Japan. He went missing last Friday and was reported to have bought a bullet train ticket to Nagoya, hundreds of kilometers away from his Izumisano hotel.

Katsunobu Kato, the chief cabinet secretary to Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga said police launched an “all-out effort” to find the athlete—and, on Tuesday afternoon, he was found in the Mie Prefecture.

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An Osaka police spokesperson told The Daily Beast that discussions are ongoing about whether he will return to his team hotel.

More to follow...