It’s no joke: Former swimmer warns

Los Angeles, March 23

Olympics champion swimmer Cameron van der Burgh said that he had contracted Covid-19, offering insight into how coronavirus infection could affect 2020 Olympics hopefuls.

“I have been struggling with Covid-19 for 14 days today,” South Africa’s van der Burgh wrote on Twitter 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).”

Van der Burgh, the 2012 Olympics 100m breaststroke champion and former world record-holder, retired from the sport in 2018. A still-fit 31, he remained among those least likely to be severely impacted by the deadly virus.

But he said the debilitating effects of the illness were lingering. “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 Burgh wrote. “Any physical activity like walking leaves me exhausted for hours.”

Van der Burgh followed his London triumph with a silver medal at the 2016 Rio Olympics and retired after winning gold in the 2018 short course World Championships. He said contracting the virus would be a severe blow to any athlete in training. “The loss in body conditioning has been immense and 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,” he said.

“Athletes will continue to train as there is no clarification about the Games and thus are exposing themselves to unnecessary risk — and those that do contract will try to rush back to training, most likely enhancing/ extending the damage/recovery time,” he wrote. “Please, look after yourself everyone! Health comes first — Covid-19 is no joke!”

Really scared: Kilian

Berlin: The first Bundesliga player to test positive for coronavirus said today he had been “really scared” as he suffered from the illness.

Paderborn’s Luca Kilian, 20, was the first case of Covid-19 in the German top-flight which has been postponed until at least April 2 due to the pandemic. “It started on March 10 with a little bit of irritation in the throat. The day after I had a headache but I kept training,” the Germany Under-21 international said. “On March 12, I had the first of my hot flushes and a day later they were really strong. Fever and strong shivers. It was then I started being really scared for the first time. It took four days for the fever to drop, and after that I felt better every day,” he added. “I’m a sportsman and in form, but I had to fight a lot against the virus. For the people who already have health issues, it could put their life in danger.” — AFP