Olympic gold medalist Van der Burgh
battling coronavirus
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[March 23, 2020]
Olympic swimming champion
Cameron van der Burgh has said he has been battling the new
coronavirus for the last two weeks and that athletes who continue to
train for the Tokyo Games are exposing themselves to “unnecessary
risk”.
South African Van der Burgh won gold in the 100m breaststroke at the
2012 London Olympics and silver in Rio four years later before
retiring in 2018.
He said that while the most severe symptoms from the virus had
passed he was still exhausted by any physical activity.
“I have been struggling with COVID-19 for 14 days today,” he said on
Twitter.
“By far the worst virus I have ever endured despite being a healthy
individual with strong lungs (no smoking/sport), living a healthy
lifestyle and being young (least at-risk demographic).
“Although the most severe symptoms (extreme fever) have eased, I am
still struggling with serious fatigue and a residual cough that I
can’t shake. Any physical activity like walking leaves me exhausted
for hours.”
More than 14,600 people have died globally since the coronavirus
outbreak began.
Van der Burgh, 31, said athletes who contract the virus will
struggle to get back in peak condition for the Games, which are
scheduled to start on July 24, though there have been growing calls
for the Olympics to be postponed.
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Cameron van der Burgh of South Africa competes. REUTERS/Aly Song
Canada became the first country to boycott the Games due to the
coronavirus pandemic and Australia on Monday told its athletes to
prepare for the Olympics to be postponed to 2021.
“The loss in body conditioning has been immense and I can only feel
for the athletes that contract COVID-19 as they will suffer a great
loss of current conditioning through the last training cycle.
Infection closer to competition being the worst,” he said.
“Athletes will continue to train as there is no clarification
regarding the summer Games and thus are exposing themselves to
unnecessary risk -- and those that do contract will try rush back to
training most likely enhancing/extending the damage/recovery time.”
(Editing by Peter Rutherford)
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