Evening Telegraph (First Edition)
Virus fears allayed
City runner puts faith in docs after Zika worry
A DUNDEE athlete who is travelling to compete in the Olympics has revealed how she is backing doctors to keep her safe from the Zika virus.
A number of athletes have pulled out of the event in Brazil due to concerns about the disease, which is spread by mosquitoes and can cause birth defects if spread from a pregnant woman to her fetus.
Some tennis players are refusing to travel to the event, while the likes of Rory McIlroy and Jordan Spieth won’t be taking part in the golf after they had their own concerns about the virus.
But Eilish McColgan, a long-distance runner, plans to travel to the Games and is backing the advice of Team GB doctors, despite some initial concerns.
She told the Tele: “It isn’t something that I thought about until I qualified for the Games.
“I didn’t think there was any point in stressing about it but when I knew I was part of the team I was a bit worried about it.
“I don’t think that they would be sending us to Rio if there was a really big risk.
“They wouldn’t be sending people like Usain Bolt and Mo Farah if there was.
“I feel like we have the best medical advice from the British team here and if they say that it is OK then that is enough for me. I haven’t heard of any track athletes that have pulled out because of it.”
The 25-year-old is currently at the Team GB training camp in the French Pyrenees, alongside athletes like Farah and her partner Michael Rimmer, taking advantage of the high altitude before heading to Brazil for her second Olympic Games.
She added: “Preparation is going really well, I am definitely in the best shape that I have ever been going into the Games.
“I think that it is going to be totally different than competing in London in front of a home crowd but I am really looking forward to the challenge.
“I am currently in the middle of a really hard training block just now — some disciplines you taper off but running is different. I will be running every day until I compete.
“Rio is somewhere that I have never visited before and it is always nice to compete in new stadiums, in front of a different crowd.”