Storyline: Sports aren’t the only topics surrounding the Rio Olympics. Conversations are also about costs and budget cuts, polluted water, unfinished venues, crime, and most certainly, disease— the Zika Virus.
There don’t seem to be many sports options on TV this time of year. The NBA is over and the NFL hasn’t begun. But something big is coming. The world will unite for the love of sports from Friday, August 5 through Sunday, August 21, in Rio de Janeiro.
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It’s the Summer Olympics! Rafael Nadal, a Spanish professional tennis player who’s currently ranked #4 in the world, says: “The Olympics is the most important event in the world of sport.” But, this time, sports aren’t the primary topics of discussion surrounding the Rio Olympics. Conversations are about costs and budget cuts, polluted water, recession bordering on depression, unfinished venues, crime, and most certainly, disease— the Zika Virus, in particular.
The Zika Virus has many athletes tossing and turning over whether they’ll make their appearance this summer. Zika can be transmitted via sexual activity or mosquito bite. Those infected face a hard decision when it comes to having a family of their own. That’s because the virus causes birth defects, including a syndrome known as microcephaly—babies born with abnormally small heads and brains. It has also been linked to rare, adult-onset neurological problems, such as the Guillain-Barre Syndrome, which can result in paralysis and death.
Rio de Janeiro’s suspected Zika cases are the highest of any state in Brazil (26,000). And its Zika incidence rate is the fourth worst (157 per 100,000). Rio is not just on the border of the outbreak. It’s smack in the middle … and flourishing.
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The World Health Organization said it would examine the risks of staging the Olympics in Rio, having rejected (at least at this point) to calls from over one hundred medical experts who believe the Games should be cancelled or moved.
Serena Williams, American professional tennis player ranked first in women’s singles tennis, will go to Rio “super protected” against the Zika Virus. She won the Gold in singles and doubles in London in 2012. Williams won’t allow the virus to keep her away from adding to her Olympic medal collection.
Hope Solo, USA women’s soccer goalkeeper with three straight Olympic gold medals, publicly showed her apprehension regarding the virus. In February, Solo said she’d not attend the Games if a choice had to be made right then. This week, though, she said she’d “begrudgingly” participate in the Games, but doesn’t “plan to leave her hotel room.” Solo also said that she “strongly believes that no athlete should be put into this position — to decide between your Olympic dreams and your own health.”
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There are ways to protect yourself from mosquito bites by covering up and using a good insect repellent. But you can get infected without realizing it. Commonwealth 100m champ, Jamaican Olympic sprinter Kemar Bailey-Cole, recently claimed that he contracted the Zika Virus. But he didn’t even realize he had it until “I went to get a haircut. After cleaning up, my girlfriend realized a bump was on my neck, which was a lymph node. I was experiencing back pains and muscle soreness, but I thought it was just soreness from the exercises I was doing. It is very disappointing.”
That’s disappointing, indeed, because the recovery process is difficult. Rashes are visible and the virus causes eyes to hurt. Bailey-Cole, who has already been part of the 4x100m Gold Medal team in London 2012, will still compete in the Jamaican Olympic trials next week. He’ll face the fastest man in the world, Usain Bolt, as well as Yohan Blake, for a spot in Rio. He said he is “going to trials with the mindset that I’m healthy and ready.”
Other athletes, like Irish golfer Rory McIlroy, declined an invitation to the Olympics due to Zika fears and the effect it could have for his family. He said it’s a risk he’s “unwilling to take.” It’s a sad announcement for Golf fans as the sport will be making its return to the Olympics after a 112-year absence. Ireland’s Olympic governing body said that it was “extremely disappointed not to be taking Rory with us to Rio” but, at the same time, it “respected his decision..”
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McIlroy is not alone. Cyclist Tejay van Garderen and golfers, Vijay Singh and Marc Leishman, have already said they’ll not compete at the August Games because of Zika. Others are participating, but will be taking another type of precaution. British long jumper, Greg Rutherford, froze his sperm as a result of fears over the Zika Virus. He said it was “just another thing we don’t want to chance.”
And NBA player, Pau Gasol, who has made his concerns about contracting the Zika Virus very public, is also considering freezing his sperm. The 35-year-old center told reporters “some of these athletes are planning to have children in the near future, and this could affect them, it could affect the health of their kids and their wives, and their health should come first.” He felt that it was his duty to make people aware of the virus.
Tennis player Rafael Nadal does not understand why any professional athlete would allow the Zika Virus to hold them back from following their dream. “I cannot understand people who don’t want to go to Olympics. No, it is something that is not every year. It’s an event you can compete only once, twice, or three times in your career…maybe…if you are lucky.”
Every athlete is free to make his and her own decision, of course. But this is an unfortunate circumstance to be put in. For sure.
Well written, sitting across from your Grandfather who is beaming with pride.