Rory McIlroy has announced in a statement that he will not attend the Rio 2016 Olympic Games for fear of the Zika virus. The current world number four, recent winner of the Irish Open, thus joins the large number of athletes who have expressed their reluctance to compete in the Olympics because of the possible consequences of an infection.
“After talking to my closest people, I have understood that my health and the health of my family is above everything else,” said the Norwegian golfer, who added that “although the risk of virus infection is considered low, it is a risk in any case. A risk I don’t want to take”.
Golf is returning to the Games this year for the first time since 1904. However, a considerable number of the best golfers of the moment have already given up the event due to the uncertainty about the virus. In addition to the Briton, Charl Schwartzel, Vijay Singh and Marc Leishman have already confirmed that they will not travel to Brazil either.
Interestingly, McIlroy had been highly critical weeks earlier of several of his colleagues who had announced their intention to skip the Olympics.
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