Sources tell SwimSwam that two U.S. Olympic swimmers, distance specialists David Johnston and Luke Whitlock, have tested positive for COVID-19 in Paris.
The news comes on the heels of British breaststroker Adam Peaty testing positive for COVID-19 on Monday, just hours after tying for silver in the men’s 100 breaststroke and sharing the podium with American Nic Fink.
Sources say that both Johnston and Whitlock have been moved to a hotel to isolate while coaches closely monitor the entire distance group. Whitlock had been staying in an apartment along with Hunter Armstrong, Thomas Heilman, Aaron Shackell, Matt Fallon, and Ivan Puskovitch.
Johnston’s status for his only pool event, the men’s 1500 free, is now up in the air. Fortunately, he’ll have a few days to recover before heats take place on Saturday, August 3rd. However, the prospect of pulling off a pool/open water double and swimming the 10km soon after dealing with COVID-19 seems like a tall task at this point. Johnston was added to the open water roster in late June courtesy of his 1500 free time.
Whitlock is said to be experiencing mild symptoms such as coughing, but the 18-year-old Florida commit (’24) already raced in his only event, placing 15th in the men’s 800 freestyle heats on Monday morning with a time of 7:49.26 — four seconds slower than his personal-best 7:45.19 from last month’s Olympic Trials. He is the youngest American man to make the U.S. Olympic swimming team since 15-year-old Michael Phelps back in 2000.
Several members of the U.S. team were reportedly already staying in hotels outside of the Athlete Village, which could help limit the spread of COVID-19 through the team. While the current strains of the COVID-19 virus generally have more mild symptoms than the strain that gripped the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games, it is still dangerous for high-risk populations and can still create long-COVID symptoms, though research on long COVID is still evolving. COVID-19 spreads more easily than the common flu, and even medically-mild symptoms can still impact athletes’ performances at the Olympic Games.
