While England and other Nations when they tour India make a big hue and
cry about Delhi belly – UK is not free and Norovirus is one of the most common
stomach bugs in the UK. Symptoms include diarrhoea and vomiting and it is known
as a 'winter bug' but can be caught at any time during the year. It is passed
from person to person and is highly contagious, often causing hospital wards to
shut. Doctors recommend sufferers drink plenty of water, take paracetamol and
stay in bed. Medics also recommend
washing hands thoroughly with soap and using disinfectant on surfaces to
prevent the spread of the sickness.
BBC presenter Gabby Logan has been accused of 'bullying' an athletics
medical chief following a heated on-air interview about the withdrawal of
Botswana runner Isaac Makwala from the World Championships. Outraged viewers branded Logan 'ignorant' and
said she 'should be ashamed' after she 'interrogated' Pam Venning, Head of
Medical Services at the IAAF, during coverage of the event from the Queen
Elizabeth Olympic Park in London last night. Dr Venning was forced to repeatedly
defend medics' decision to recommend Makwala, 30, be withdrawn from the
competition after he displayed symptoms of norovirus, which has already struck
down at least 30 other athletes.
The recommendation led to Makwala, who is a national hero in his country,
being denied entry to the stadium on Tuesday night shortly before he had hoped
to compete in the 400m finals, despite him saying he felt 'ready to run'. The good news is that ~ less than 24 hours
after the Botswana athlete had been refused entry into the London Stadium when
attempting to line up for the 400m final, he was handed a lifeline in the form
of a 200m solo time trial.
Regardless of whether he had indeed suffered from the norovirus outbreak
that has affected more than 40 athletes and officials at these championships -
he maintains that he never did have the disease - his 48-hour quarantine period
was over and the IAAF were only too happy to go into damage limitation mode as
they looked to end the bad publicity that the episode had brought. So it was
that two days after he had vomited on arrival for the 200m heats and been
banned from running, Makwala was cheered to the rafters as he lined up all
alone in the thundering rain on Wednesday evening.
The task was simple: run a time of 20.53 seconds to improve on the
slowest qualifier from the heats and he would advance through to the
semi-finals. Coming to London as the fastest man in the world this year, it
appeared a simple enough assignment in spite of the conditions and so it proved
as he clocked 20.20sec. Then came the
bonus action. Keen to prove a point to those who had stripped him of his 400m
dream, Makwala dropped immediately to the track on crossing the finish line,
completed a rapid-fire set of push-ups and stood to attention with a salute.
Ushered away by a member of the IAAF communications team, Makwala then
had little more than two hours to prepare himself for the next round, for which
he was given the tricky task of the tight inside lane - one of two lanes not
sheltered from the rain. After everything he had endured over the previous few
days those trivialities mattered not a jot as he later admitted he was
"running with anger". The smile as he crossed the line was colossal.
Interesting !!
With regards – S. Sampathkumar
10th Aug 2017.
