More than 40 cases of coronavirus or other respiratory diseases have already appeared among Australian athletes at the Olympic Games in Paris.
Photo: ČTK / AP / Anjum Naveed
Australian athletes are struggling with the coronavirus.
The head coach of the swimming team, Rohan Taylor, and the chief physician of the Olympic team, Carolyn Broderick, told the Australian agency AAP.
Taylor said that during the nine days of Olympic competition, some swimmers competed for medals despite being infected with covid-19. One of them was Zac Stubblety-Cook, silver medalist in the 200m breaststroke. On the other hand, Lani Pallisterová or Ella Ramsayová withdrew from the race after testing positive.
The Australians have two PCR testing facilities in the Olympic Village. As of Monday, according to Chief Medical Officer Brodericková, 84 tests were performed on them, and roughly half of them came out with a positive result.
“These devices are one of the main reasons why the infection does not spread more. We will find out the result in 45 minutes, so we can take the necessary measures and start treatment shortly after the athletes feel the first symptoms,” said Brodericková.
Another measure to minimize the risk of infection is that Australians only go to the canteen in the Olympic Village once a day. They only come there for dinner, breakfast and lunch are prepared elsewhere.
“Being able to eat outside of the Olympic cafeteria allowed us to continue racing and probably gave us an advantage over the other teams,” Taylor said. The Australians fished out 18 medals from the pool, including seven gold, and were the second most successful country after the USA. They were fourth in the overall medal ranking of countries after Sunday.
Source: sportweb.pravda.sk
