Yahoo News Olympic gold medalist hospitalised with breakthrough Covid case
An Olympic athlete has been hospitalised with Covid-19 after she fell ill from the virus while competing in Italy, just two months after winning gold in the Tokyo 2020 games.
Madi Wilson, a 27-year-old Australian, told her Instagram followers on Sunday that she was withdrawing from the competition after testing positive for Covid. She had been competing with the with the Los Angeles Current swimming team.
The double vaccinated swimmer, who was in Naples, Italy, for the 2021 International Swimming League (ISL), explained that she had been hospitalised for “care and observation” as a precaution.
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She said she tested positive even thought she’s "double vaccinated and took the right precaution set in place through the ISL”, and that “being run down physically and mentally may have made me more susceptible”.
“I feel extremely unlucky but I do believe this is a huge wake-up call, Covid is a serious thing and when it comes it hits very hard. I'd be stupid not to say I wasn't scared,” the Olympic swimmer wrote.
Ms Wilson, who also won a bronze medal for Australia at this summer’s Olympic games in Tokyo, said she was “so lucky for all my family, friends and support people” as well as her “incredible LA family”.
“You haven’t and wont ever see a team with a bigger heart then theirs, away from the pool the most incredible compassionate group of people and in the pool we are fighting with every bit of strength,” Wilson wrote on Instagram.
On Monday, the swimmer again thanked family and fans for their support, as well as Swimming Australia and the ISL, who she said had been “incredible”.
Wilson also called on her followers to get vaccinated because “it worked, and protected the people around me”.
The 27-year-old added that her hospitalisation from Covid was precautionary, and due to “underlying health conditions”.
She is expected to recover and compete in the semifinals of the ISL, and said she will be “taking some time to rest and I’m sure I’ll be ready to bounce back in no time.”
The competition, which began on 26 August, runs until 30 September.
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