Former Olympic swimming champion van der Burgh has virus

Former Olympic swimming champion Cameron van der Burgh said he has contracted coronavirus and added his voice to concerns for athletes' well-being if Tokyo Games go ahead as scheduled.

Van der Burgh, who retired from competitive swimming in 2018, posted

“Although 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 on his official Twitter account. “Any physical activity like walking leaves me exhausted for hours.”

Van der Burgh wrote that athletes are “exposing mselves to unnecessary risk” by continuing to train in preparation for Olympics because re is “ clarification” on wher games will go ahead as planned.

“And those (athletes) that do contract ( virus) will try rush back to training most likely enhancing/extending dam/recovery time,” he wrote.

He ended his thread with: "COVID-19 is joke!"

re are w signs that Olympics, which are due to start on July 24, will be postponed. International Olympic Committee

But IOC will only make a final decision within four weeks, it said, and that means athletes may still feel forced to train for next month as y are t yet certain Olympics will be pushed back.

31-year-old van der Burgh won gold at 2012 London Olympics and silver at 2016 Rio de Janeiro Games in 100-meter breaststroke. He also won six world championship golds, both long and short course. He holds short course world records in 50-meter and 100-meter breaststroke.

Van der Burgh is from South Africa but moved to London to work in finance industry after retiring from swimming.

Most people only experience mild symptoms from COVID-19 disease caused by virus and recover within weeks. But it is highly contagious and causes severe illness in some patients, particularly elderly and those with weakened immune systems. People can carry and spread virus without showing any symptoms.

More than 331,000 people have been infected worldwide, and more than 14,400 have died. Nearly 100,000 people have recovered.