Dr. Kathleen Bachynski
Assistant Professor of Public Health at Muhlenberg College. Her research focuses on sports safety and youth health, with recent projects addressing traumatic brain injuries in sports, overuse injuries, the #MeToo movement, and protecting young athletes from sexual abuse.
Email: kathleenbachynski@muhlenberg.edu
Twitter: @bachyns
In many ways, infectious disease prevention defined the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. The COVID-19 pandemic forced organizers to postpone the Games for a year. When the Games were finally held in 2021, they were accompanied by strict infection protocols, including a ban on spectators. Eager to move forward in 2024, athletes, fans, and news outlets alike hailed the “post-pandemic” Paris Olympics as an opportunity to “return to normal” and to set COVID-19 behind.
Yet, even when Olympic organizers are not navigating the initial outbreak of a novel pandemic virus, infectious diseases continue to threaten athletes’ well-being and to shape competitions. Two infection control concerns particularly affected Paris 2024: water quality issues in the Seine River and ongoing COVID-19 transmission throughout the Games.
Despite a $1.5 billion clean-up effort, and the mayor of Paris herself taking a dip in the Seine to demonstrate its cleanliness, worries about the water persisted throughout the Games. Following heavy rains and increased E. coli levels, swimming events were postponed.
In the face of uncertainty, some Olympians sought to protect themselves by taking prophylactic antibiotics and getting vaccinated against typhoid and hepatitis A before competing. Yet other athletes described adopting far more dubious measures with no scientific basis to protect themselves. For example, the Wall Street Journal reported on numerous triathletes who were drinking Coca-Cola after their races on the misguided belief that the beverage would “flush out anything inside of us.” However, a can of Coca-Cola offers no additional benefit in “cleansing” one’s digestive system of harmful bacteria, because healthy human stomachs are more acidic than soft drinks.
Perhaps most disconcertingly, U.S. triathlete Seth Rider stated that he would intentionally expose himself to “a bit of E. coli” by not washing his hands after going to the bathroom. There is no evidence supporting this approach; moreover, failing to wash one’s hands after defecating is one of the best ways to put oneself at increased risk for getting sick from all kinds of illnesses (In the wake of extensive media coverage, Rider later claimed he was joking.).
Amid the confusion, rumors were quick to spread when athletes fell ill. For example, after Belgian triathlete Claire Michel withdrew from a mixed relay event, several news outlets claimed that she had been hospitalized with an E. coli infection. Michel subsequently clarified that she had contracted a virus, not E. coli. The statement of Belgium’s National Olympic Committee nonetheless included a seemingly pointed critique of the way events in the Seine river had been managed, expressing a hope that lessons would be learned for future competitions so “that there is no uncertainty for the athletes and support personnel.” Meanwhile, a lack of trust in the water quality led other Olympians, notably Swedish marathon swimmer Victor Johansson, to preemptively pull out of events.
Turning to COVID-19, Paris 2024 organizers effectively dropped all the protocols that had defined the Tokyo 2020 Games. Spectators were welcomed back into venues without restrictions. Likewise, there were no vaccine, masking, or testing requirements for athletes. As International Olympic Committee president Thomas Bach explained, COVID-19 “is being treated like flu now, so there is no obligation for any special measures or notifications.” Athletes who testedpositive for COVID-19 could continue competing while ill.
Amid concerns over transmission, a few athletes, coaches, and support staff chose to don masks, and two U.S. swimmers who tested positive moved out of the Olympic Village and into a hotel. Such measures were voluntary, and news reports indicated several athletes that competed either after or shortly before a positive COVID-19 test, such as Australian swimmer Zac Stubblety-Cook and Great Britain’s Adam Peaty.
But perhaps the most publicized case of a Paris 2024 Olympian competing with COVID-19 was American sprinter Noah Lyles. After finishing the men’s 200-meter race, Lyles collapsed, received medical attention, and was assisted off the track in a wheelchair. He subsequently revealed that he had started experiencing symptoms two days prior and had tested positive for COVID-19. Lyles explained that he had avoided disclosing his positive test result beyond his inner circle to avoid giving his competitors “an edge” and to give himself the best chance to continue with the race.
As a star athlete given the option to continue the competition, Lyles made the same decision almost any other Olympian would have made. But the lack of protocols or authority to intervene to help protect Lyles’s health was troubling, particularly given that as a child, Lyles grew up with severe asthma which caused damage to his lungs. The incident raised questions about whether the absence of infection control policy sufficed to protect athletes, as well as people around them, from contagious diseases.
While Paris 2024 brought much to celebrate, these Olympics have also highlighted the ongoing importance of public health measures. If they are unable to trust the safety of their environment, athletes may respond by attempting unscientific measures to protect themselves. And in the absence of clear and consistent policies, athletes who have trained years for this moment will understandably continue trying to “play through” illness unless authorities intervene. Olympians deserve stronger health protections.
