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Concerns over the Zika virus have at least one well known athlete bowing out of this summer’s Olympic games in Rio. With just 44 days to go before the games, what are other athletes now saying? We caught up with our Olympic wrestling squad and asked them

8 Canadian wrestlers will represent the maple leaf come August 5th and they will be putting everything on the line to chase gold, including their health. Concerns over Zika, a mosquito-borne virus has forced some Olympians to bow out. There have been 122 cases of Canadians contracting the disease while travelling. There is no vaccine for Zika, which is linked to a birth defect where infants are born with abnormally small heads.

“My mom and my family is coming, about 9 people are coming with me. In terms of my performance and worrying about the Zika virus I am not.” Michelle Fazzari, Olympic hopeful.

The wrestlers will train outside of Rio during the games, but they will be taking all the necessary precautions.
“We are going to have mosquito nets, air conditioned rooms, we were already there a couple months ago and we really didn’t see any mosquitoes at that time.” Leigh Vierling, head coach.

There were no cases of Zika during the 44 test events leading up the games, which included 7 000 athletes. Olympic officials say the number of Zika cases has dropped significantly since April. They say about one or two tourists are likely to contract the virus during the three week competition.

The Canadian government says pregnant women should avoid travelling to the Olympics and travellers should protect themselves from mosquito bites.