Olympic track star Kenny Bednarek addressed his rival Noah Lyles, who is competing in the 200-meter final, with Covid.
Lyles had to be pulled from the wheelchair track at the Paris Olympics on Thursday after finishing third behind fellow American Bednarek.
In a post-race press conference, the silver medalist said he wasn’t quite sure “what was going on” with his teammate.
“I don’t know, I don’t care,” he said, when asked if it bothered him that Lyles was running with the viral illness.
“If I get sick, I’ll be fine, if he gets sick, it’ll be a cold. I don’t consider those things to be a big deal. I’m healthy. I do everything I can to make sure my body is healthy,” he continued.
Kenny Bednarek addressed his rival Noah Lyles who is competing in the 200m final with Covid
“I give him a hug whether he’s sick or not. I don’t care about that stuff,” she said.
“I don’t get sick easily… I give him a hug whether he’s sick or not. I don’t care about that stuff.”
Bednarek also noted that he has been “minding his own business” at the Olympic Village and was unsure whether Covid could be spreading.
“I am free from worries, I don’t see certain things because I am busy with my own affairs,” he told reporters.
Lyles, meanwhile, said he has no regrets about competing, despite the inevitable risk of spreading the virus to other athletes, whom he hugged and shook hands with after the race.
Wearing a face mask, the USA star told NBC: “I woke up early around 5am on Tuesday morning, feeling really horrible. I knew it was more than just pain from the 100. My first thought was not to panic, I’ve been in worse situations, I’ve been in worse conditions.”
Lyles ran the men’s 200m final in Paris with Covid, he revealed after the race
The American had to be taken away in a wheelchair in the moments after the race in shocking scenes.
“I took it day by day, tried to hydrate as much as I could. I would say it took its toll, for sure, but I’ve never been more proud of myself for coming out here and getting a bronze,” he added.
When asked if he was considering retiring, he gave an emphatic response.
“No, no. We just said we were going to quarantine ourselves as much as possible and not try to transmit the virus,” he said.
There are no rules requiring athletes to withdraw from events, and all Covid protocols were abandoned for the Paris Games.
Lyles later said that the other competitors were unaware of her diagnosis: “We tried to keep it a secret. The medical staff, my coach and my mother knew.
“We didn’t want everyone to panic. We wanted to be able to compete. We wanted to be as discreet as possible and we didn’t want to tell our competitors that we were sick. Why give them an advantage?”
Lyles (back left) crossed the finish line in third place, despite being the heavy favorite.
Lyles was seen wearing a mask in the moments before his competition began in Paris.