American cyclist Tejay van Garderen says he will not compete in Rio this summer due to concerns over the Zika outbreak. The virus is linked to birth defects and the 27-year-old’s wife is currently pregnant.
In a statement through USA Cycling, Van Garderen said that his family was his first priority and he didn’t want to take any risks.
“Although the risks associated with the Zika virus can be minimal and precautions can be taken, my wife Jessica is pregnant, and I don’t want to risk bringing anything back that could potentially have an effect. If circumstances were different I would have loved to be selected again to represent the USA but my family takes priority and it’s a decision that I’m completely comfortable with. I hope I’ll be in the position to race at the 2020 Olympic Games.”
USA Cycling is yet to announce its men’s squad for the Olympics but confirmed to the BBC that Van Garderen had withdrawn from consideration.
Golfers Vijay Singh and Marc Leishman have also said they will not be competing in Rio due to Zika concerns. More than a hundred medical experts signed an open letter saying it would be unethical for the games to go ahead as planned because of the risk to global public health. The World Health Organisation has however dismissed this, saying such a move would “not significantly alter” the spread of the virus.
15 thoughts on “Tejay van Garderen pulls out of Olympics due to Zika virus threat”
I quite like those glasses he
I quite like those glasses he’s wearing in that picture.
Do they not have tests for
Do they not have tests for this yet?
His kid would be alright.
His kid would be alright. Americans end up with big heads.
Read: I’m really not up for
Read: I’m really not up for testing right now.
unconstituted wrote:
Trolls are just scum.
Leviathan wrote:
What does that even mean.
unconstituted wrote:
I don’t think he’s worried about testing. But I also think that calling someone a troll like this is wide of the mark.
It’s a lazy way of putting someone down because you don’t agree with their opinion. And it’s pathetic.
Colin Peyresourde wrote:
Pathetic? So you think it is alright for someone to suggest that TJ’s decision to protect his unborn child is an excuse to hide drug taking. Colin, I though you at least had some sense.
Leviathan wrote:
You are putting words in my mouth, or at least making an assumption. People have a right to say what they want. If they want to say stupid things then so be it. But trolling is a bit more insidious because the authors target their victim/subject, and the two should not be confused.
His decision, his priorities
His decision, his priorities.
In the unlikely event of my being in the same position, I’d do the same thing.
@Colin, that is a very
@Colin, that is a very pedantic definition of trolling. Unconstituted knows that TJ will never see this post, he is trolling us, the forum readers. His comment is insidious; he is implying that TJ is a drug cheat and sewing seeds of doubt over his decision; his wife is pregnant, that is a fact. Freedom of speech is wonderful, but it is not a licence to make cheap accusations, or go unchallenged.
Leviathan wrote:
Get a grip. Who are you trying to impress with the righteous indignation act? Professional athletes making odd excuses and getting out of the testing cycle do not get my benefit of the doubt. You can suck up anything they say or do, that’s your prerogative. That doesn’t mean the rest of us can’t have a more cycnical view and scrutinise every move they make, if we’re so inclined.
Take your weird, angsty faux outrage and go beat a wife or whatever it is holier-than-thou types do behind closed doors.
Rio is a huge opportunity, people don’t drop out if they really don’t have to. Wife’s pregnant? Zika virus? Lap it up.
unconstituted wrote:
I stand by my assessment. Troll.
Leviathan wrote:
Cringe.
By all means, be cynical
By all means, be cynical about professional cyclists. That’s a fair approach to take, given the sport’s past. But that’s very different from instantly assuming that somebody is doping.
David Walsh makes the point well: he points out that the doubts about Armstrong were never just “he must be doping because he’s doing so well”, they were based on solid evidence including eyewitness testimony, a failed test covered up, dealings with Michele Ferrari etc. Just assuming that a person is doping is every bit as lazy as those who closed their eyes to Armstrong.
As far as I know, TJvG has never been involved in any suspicious findings, activities etc. There have been no good grounds to suspect him of doping. So the assertion that his withdrawal translates as not wanting to be tested relies on the suggestion that anybody withdrawing from Rio on the grounds of Zika must be lying.
We can’t judge this by what we think of Zika: there are people out there who are so stupid they think childhood vaccines cause autism (or who are so stupid they vaccinate their children, thereby risking their lives, whichever you prefer). People with pregnant wives will often take extreme steps to avoid exposure to potential health risks, real or perceived.
You seem to doubt whether his wife is pregnant. This should be fairly obvious within a few months. If it turns out she got pregnant around now then that might aid your suspicion (but by no means prove it). If she’s been pregnant for a while then it would have to be a pretty well planned “not up for testing”. [EDIT: according to a quick Google check, she’s due in October, so presumably they’ve been planning this doping overdose for about 5 months. He’s also not going to the Worlds because they clash with the due date. I assume you’d say that this is also because he’s planning to be over-doped?]
On which note, if the Olympics are such a big deal that nobody would possibly pull out for fear of Zika (let’s ignore the golfers who’ve done the same and the large number of doctors calling for the games to be cancelled for exactly that reason, because neither of those things could possibly affect van Gardener’s decision, could they?), why would he conceivably allow himself to be in a situation where he has to withdraw over a month early for fear testing? He’s open to out of competition testing anyway and he’d have to be pretty dumb to dope to the extent that he’d have to miss the Olympics, especially if they’re such a big deal that nobody (except golfers and doctors) would pull out for fear of Zika.
So yes, be cynical. But don’t confuse healthy cynicism with assuming that a person is doping and then turning that into a fact. Try actually thinking about it for a moment. Maybe he is doping. It wouldn’t surprise me for a moment. It would surprise me if that’s the reason for this withdrawal.