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While the 18 percent of people who tested positive for coronavirus without symptoms gives a daunting outlook for effectively halting the spread of the disease, the majority of those who have it know it well.
Cameron van der Burgh, a South American swimmer who won Gold at the 2012 Summer Olympics in London for the 100-meter breaststroke, is one of those people whose health has been ravaged by the disease.
In a Twitter thread on Sunday, the 31-year-old dubbed COVID-19 “the worst virus I have endured” before detailing the brutal symptoms associated with it.
Some personal thoughts/observations for athletes health,The summer games & my own experience with contracting Covid19.
I have been struggling with Covid-19 for 14 days today. 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. Any physical activity like walking leaves me exhausted for hours.
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. Infection closer to competition being the worst.
Athletes will continue to train as there is no clarification re summer Games and thus are exposing themselves to unnecessary risk – and those that do contract will try rush back to training most likely enhancing/extending the damage/recovery time.
Please, look after yourself everyone! Health comes first – COVID-19 is no joke!
It’s surreal that the dude who set a new world record in the 100M breaststroke and looks to have negative body fat is being manhandled by this virus, while others walk around with it without even knowing it. This shit is an enigma. Scary times.