The number of individuals to test positive for COVID-19 has risen in recent days, and now Olympic swimmer Cameron van der Burgh has joined the list of those affected. The South African revealed that he did test positive for the coronavirus. He also said that this is the worst virus he has “ever endured.”
Van der Burgh revealed in a series of tweets that he actually tested positive early in March. He has since been struggling and wanted to share some insights with those on Twitter. Specifically, he wanted to explain how the coronavirus could impact those that rely on athletics to earn their living. This was important information considering that the International Olympics Committee officially postponed the 2020 Tokyo Games on Monday.
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“I have been struggling with Covid-19 for 14 days today,” Van der Burgh tweeted on Sunday. “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,” Van der Burch continued. “Any physical activity like walking leaves me exhausted for hours.”
As Van der Burgh continued to explain, not having a clarification about the Summer Games could potentially cause lasting damage to the competitors. He believes that some of those training could expose themselves to unnecessary risk, contract the coronavirus, and then try to rush back to their training schedule.
“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,” Van der Burgh wrote.
At this point in time, the six-time World Champion wants his fellow athletes to prioritize their own health. Staying safe and avoiding the coronavirus is critical, and he believes that they need to focus on achieving this goal. As he wrote on Sunday, “COVID-19 is no joke!”
The Summer Olympics were previously scheduled to begin on July 24 and run through Aug. 9 in Tokyo. The IOC will now search for a new time that the events can be held without concerns over the impact of coronavirus on those gathered. The future date has not been determined, but IOC President Thomas Bach has said that the committee would take the next four weeks to determine the fate of the Olympics.
(Photo Credit: Lintao Zhang/Getty Images)
