Retired South African Olympic swimmer Cameron van der Burgh on Sunday announced that he tested positive for the coronavirus.
Van der Burgh, who retired from competitive swimming in December 2018, chronicled his experiences on social media after contracting the virus.
“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),” he posted on his twitter account on Sunday.
Van der Burgh also elaborated on how he experienced the disease, posting:
“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.”
While no longer a competitive athlete, van der Burgh also shared some comments for athletes currently in training:
“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 the competition being the worst.”
He added: “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.”
Van der Burgh ended off his social media posts on the topic urging followers to be safe and warning that “Covid-19 is no joke!”
4/ 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.
— Cameron van der Burgh (@Cameronvdburgh) March 22, 2020
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