Kenya threatened on Tuesday to pull its elite runners and other athletes out of the Rio Olympics if the Zika virus in Brazil reaches “epidemic levels”, the head of Kenya’s Olympic committee said.
Sports authorities across the world are scrambling to find out more about the mosquito-borne virus as they make plans for the games in August.
“Obviously, we are not going to risk taking Kenyans there if this Zika Virus reaches epidemic levels. They have to assure us that the country is safe enough to take athletes there,” the head of Kenya’s Olympics committee, Kipchoge Keino, told Reuters.
Brazilian authorities insist there will be no risk to athletes and spectators, except pregnant women, when the Rio Games take place in August.
The International Olympic Committee says it is in “close contact” with organisers, while Olympic venues will be inspected daily in the lead-up to and during the Games.
Kenya was expected to be one of the star performers at Rio, fielding some of the best middle and long-distance runners in the world. The East African nation topped the medals table at the 2015 World Championships.
Keino, himself a Kenyan running great, said his office has been in touch with Olympics organisers to voice their concerns.
“We have made it clear that unless they clean the venues of this potentially dangerous disease, we will not go there,” said the chairman of the National Olympic Committee of Kenya, who won Olympic gold medals at the Mexico City and Munich Olympics.
“But if they assure us that things are in order and there is no risk to participants, mothers, we will go.”
Last week the World Health Organization (WHO) declared the virus a global public health emergency.
Authorities fear that the outbreak of the virus is linked to a rise in cases of microcephaly, a birth defect marked by an abnormally small head.
The U.S. Olympic committee has told its sports federations that athletes and staff concerned for their health should consider not going to Rio.
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is advising pregnant women or those considering becoming pregnant to avoid travel to places with Zika outbreaks.
