Athletes' health: how does it affect performance at the Olympics?
30 july 2024 в 02:50
Athletes striving for Olympic medals rely not only on their talent and hard work, but also on a bit of luck. Without a sufficient amount of luck, even the best athletes can sometimes show unsatisfactory results or not show anything at all.
Coco Gauff was forced to withdraw from the Games in Tokyo in 2020 just days before due to a positive COVID-19 diagnosis.
Jade Carey, currently competing at the Paris 2024 Olympics, revealed after falling during her floor routine at the women’s gymnastics qualification on July 28th that she was feeling unwell.
Shortly after her uncharacteristically poor performance, the 24-year-old athlete told Olympics.com: «I just haven’t been feeling well the last couple of days and couldn’t eat or do anything».
She sought to assure fans that the issue was not related to nerves, but rather her health. «I just didn’t have the energy today and couldn’t figure out what was going on in my head», - she continued. «So I just wanted people to know that there was really something wrong with me».
Carey competed in two events on Sunday: floor exercise and vault. She excelled in the latter, scoring an average of 14.433 for two attempts, likely enough to qualify for the final with eight participants on this apparatus. However, she struggled significantly on the floor, where she won Olympic gold at the Tokyo Games in 2021.
«Not the day I expected to have», - Jade shared in her Instagram post on July 28th, «but I can’t thank you enough for the love and support. I am so proud of this team and what we have achieved today. We are not done yet».
Despite difficulties on the final element, Carey currently holds second place in the vault rankings, successfully performing the Cheng vault and the double Yurchenko with a double twist for an average score of 14.433.
She is likely to advance to the final on this apparatus. But if Carey still feels unwell by Tuesday, Suni Lee will likely join Simone Biles and Jordan Chiles as the three representatives of the US team on both floor and vault.
«One of the hardest things in sports is that no matter how prepared you are, sometimes you can feel unwell in the morning before a competition. You can be stressed, not sleep well, and random things can happen. It’s just awful to hear that she’s not feeling well», - said three-time Olympic champion Aly Raisman about Carey. «I hope she knows she did an incredible job».
«She should be proud of herself», - Raisman continued. «Gymnastics is already difficult enough when you’re at your peak. So the fact that she said she hadn’t eaten for a few days and was sick, and still managed to perform at such a level, is truly remarkable»
Coco Gauff was forced to withdraw from the Games in Tokyo in 2020 just days before due to a positive COVID-19 diagnosis.
Jade Carey, currently competing at the Paris 2024 Olympics, revealed after falling during her floor routine at the women’s gymnastics qualification on July 28th that she was feeling unwell.
Shortly after her uncharacteristically poor performance, the 24-year-old athlete told Olympics.com: «I just haven’t been feeling well the last couple of days and couldn’t eat or do anything».
She sought to assure fans that the issue was not related to nerves, but rather her health. «I just didn’t have the energy today and couldn’t figure out what was going on in my head», - she continued. «So I just wanted people to know that there was really something wrong with me».
Carey competed in two events on Sunday: floor exercise and vault. She excelled in the latter, scoring an average of 14.433 for two attempts, likely enough to qualify for the final with eight participants on this apparatus. However, she struggled significantly on the floor, where she won Olympic gold at the Tokyo Games in 2021.
«Not the day I expected to have», - Jade shared in her Instagram post on July 28th, «but I can’t thank you enough for the love and support. I am so proud of this team and what we have achieved today. We are not done yet».
Despite difficulties on the final element, Carey currently holds second place in the vault rankings, successfully performing the Cheng vault and the double Yurchenko with a double twist for an average score of 14.433.
She is likely to advance to the final on this apparatus. But if Carey still feels unwell by Tuesday, Suni Lee will likely join Simone Biles and Jordan Chiles as the three representatives of the US team on both floor and vault.
«One of the hardest things in sports is that no matter how prepared you are, sometimes you can feel unwell in the morning before a competition. You can be stressed, not sleep well, and random things can happen. It’s just awful to hear that she’s not feeling well», - said three-time Olympic champion Aly Raisman about Carey. «I hope she knows she did an incredible job».
«She should be proud of herself», - Raisman continued. «Gymnastics is already difficult enough when you’re at your peak. So the fact that she said she hadn’t eaten for a few days and was sick, and still managed to perform at such a level, is truly remarkable»
© Smirnova Olga
