He finished his career, with certain difficulties and surprise: Noah Lyles had not been the first to cross the goal, but the third. Then the scare came: the American, gold in the 100 meters a few days before, knelt on the track, unable to enter the air into the lungs, by the effort of the race, yes, and for something else. He left the wheelchair. Then came the explanation: “I have Covid.”
“I felt quite dizzy after that race, I had difficulty breathing and chest pain, but after a while I was able to recover my breath and recover the sanity,” he admitted later. Actually, he had symptoms from shortly after to cross the goal of 100 in 9 seconds and 79 hundredths on Sunday. He tested on Monday. «They quickly put me in quarantine near the Olympic town. I wanted to run. They told me it was possible, so I just kept away from others»Lyles confessed, with a mask. He played the semifinals on Wednesday and Thursday, third, infected and exhausted. He got off the possible medals in the relay. I couldn’t anymore.
It is not the only one. According to data from the World Health Organization, at least forty athletes gave positive for Coronavirus the first days of competition -similar to that recorded in Tokyo 2020, with the maximum security measures. A number that WHO recognizes according to the increase in cases in France, and on the planet, and understands as normal due to the proximity of athletes both in the headquarters and in the town. But in Paris there are no restrictions, only isolation recommendations -Habpitations reserved for this, and special transport-, masks and hygiene. The national committees are left to study each case and it is the athletes who value their health status, their measures – Katie Ledecky, asthmatic, the mask was not removed until just before jumping into the water – and decide if they continue in competition or not.
Most delegations have not stipulated any action protocol. The individualized decision is not taken on the diagnosis – a positive – as in Tokyo, but about how the athlete is, if he is able to train, to render. United Kingdom recommends common sense. The United States appeals to illusion and responsibility: “Do not let a cold move away from gold” is the motto of its campaign, more suggestive than taxative. Australia has machines to detect COVID, but they treat it like any respiratory disease. The Netherlands was more blunt: he instructed his delegation and prohibited clashes and tights of hands and hugs. The only allowed greeting was reduced to a bump of fists. It was not fulfilled: Collective embrace to achieve gold in male hockey on Germany and posterior fight with the rivals. Who said Covid?
Increase in masks
If there is an increase in masks in recent days, and among infected athletes, each case is a world. «I had to rest a lot. I coughed all night. I was invoiced. I have never been more proud of myself for having been able to come and achieve bronze, ”Lyles acknowledged. His rivals did not complain, but there are voices that criticize their decision for the risk of others and their own body. “Competing at this level and with this intensity implies subjecting the cardiovascular system to a maximum stress, for the race, for the heating and psychological tension of the competition,” said Dr. Isabell von Loga, researcher at the Zurich University Hospital in The CNN. But who renounces the games?
The Australian Lani Pallister contracted the virus one day before her competition in 1,500 and decided to save strength and focus on 4×200, where she achieved a gold and a record of the collective world. The also Australian Zac Stubblety-Cook was infected when he conquered the silver in 200 backs. The British Adam Pedaty confirmed the positive the next day of his money in the 100 breasts, 0.02 seconds from gold. Saya Sakakibara was the best in BMX despite the positive. The Australian water polo team suffered five infections before its premiere. They knew how to handle it: immediate quarantine and tests until they reach silver to Spain. The German Decatteleta Manuel Eitel, however, did had to give up everything. “I am devastated,” he said. Three years later, Covid is still here, even if it seems no longer.
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