Athletes From Canada Fall Ill At Commonwealth Games

Illness is taking its toll on Canadians and other athletes at the Commonwealth Games in the latest setback for trouble-plagued organizers in New Delhi.

Stomach problems forced a few athletes to pull out of competition, while others kept going despite their discomfort — in some cases straight to the podium.

British media reported Thursday that 20 per cent of the England team’s swimmers — about eight to 10 competitors — had been struck down with a stomach virus. The Australian team confirmed at least six of its swimmers had been sick.

A team spokeswoman said some 30 Canadian athletes have experienced some form of gastrointestinal symptoms, some coupled with heat exhaustion — particularly in the outdoor sports.

But Canadian officials don’t think it’s related to the stomach virus that has attacked some swimmers.

“It’s not anything we didn’t prepare for and not unexpected,” said Jackie DeSouza, chief press officer for the Canadian team. “No athletes have been sick enough so they can’t compete.”

DeSouza said the Canadian athletes may have fallen ill from accidentally drinking tap water or eating food that had been washed in unsterilized water.

Swimmer Brent Hayden survived his stomach issues in style, winning gold in the pool Thursday.

“My Delhi Belly’s a little better today, I’m almost over it,” Hayden said. “It’s happening to everybody in all sports, it’s a place we’re not used to. If you can be comfortable being uncomfortable, that’s great.”

A spokesman for the Canadian swim team said a couple of athletes are feeling ill, but “there is nothing major.”

He said the Canadian swimmers who are sick are dealing with the usual travel ailments of upset stomachs and diarrhoea.

“Nothing that will stop them from swimming,” said the spokesman

Canadian synchronized swimmer Marie-Pier Boudreau-Gagnon also had no problems in the water Thursday. The native of Riviere de Loup, Que., won the solo competition, then teamed with Montreal’s Chloe Isaac to win the duet

Elsewhere Thursday, Kyle Pettey of Brampton, Ont., bettered his own world record in the Paralympic shot put to capture Canada’s first gold medal in track and field at the Games.

Organizers rejected speculation that the water quality at the aquatics complex was to blame for the illness.

Craig Hunter, head of England’s delegation, issued a statement saying he had received assurances from the Games’ organizing committee that water was safe. The England team said only eight per cent of its 541-member delegation had experienced any kind of stomach virus in the previous 28 days, which was lower than expected. That’s 43 people from one team in a month.

Whether it was the water or just “Delhi Belly,” it’s yet another problem to plague an event that has been seen construction delays, pre-Games complaints about filthy conditions in the athletes’ village, allegations of corruption and concerns about security and outbreaks of mosquito-borne dengue fever.

In another development, police confirmed Thursday that three Ugandan officials were injured by a malfunctioning security barrier at the games’ village, and a senior official from that country raised allegations of discrimination by Indian officials.

Commonwealth Games Federation president Mike Fennell said officials would conduct tests on both the main pool and the warmup pool at the Dr. S.P. Makherjee Aquatic Complex.

Fennell was asked if the swimming competition, which was in its fourth of six days of events Thursday, might be cancelled or moved if tests showed the pools to be unsafe.

“I would not like to speculate about this immediately,” Fennell said. “If there is something unsafe, you cannot swim in that water. It is a matter we have to deal with a great deal of urgency.”

New Zealand backstroker Daniel Bell has experienced stomach problems but managed to set a national record in his semifinal Thursday.

“It’s been keeping me up at nights, but not as bad as the Canadians or the Aussies,” Bell said. “”We’ve been talking about it (cleanliness) continuously, sanitizing our hands before we eat and before we go to bed. We just hope it keeps us from sickness.”

Bell said the pool water was definitely not the problem.

“No way. Chlorine kills the bugs, man. I don’t think it’s from the pool or all the swimmers would be getting it.”

Just before the finals program began, pool announcer Kurt Hanson, brother of former Australian Olympic swimmer Brooke Hanson, told spectators: “Let us assure you there is nothing wrong with the water here.”

“The way these athletes train, their immune system is so low that they tend to pick up any bug that is going around,” he said.

Hunter had earlier said England had asked organizers for safety assurances Thursday, despite regular testing of the pool.

“If they tell us the water is fit, it’s fit,” Hunter said.

Five-time Olympic champion Ian Thorpe said he didn’t think the swimming pool was the cause of the illness.

“I’d be surprised if it was the pool because chlorine has an amazing ability to kill just about anything that we have ever created,” said Thorpe, who has retired from swimming and is working here as a television commentator for the BBC.

Australian swim team spokesman Lachlan Searle said Lauterstein could not take part in training Thursday morning and that Hayden Stoeckel, who won a silver medal Tuesday in the men’s 50-metre backstroke, also could not train.

“Our doctors are looking into it ,” he said.

But England swim team spokesman Dave Richards said reports of the sickness had been wildly exaggerated, saying none of his country’s swimmers “has missed a competition at all.”

The questions over the pool came as Uganda’s sports minister lashed out Indian officials and demanded an apology for an accident at the athlete’s village.

Three Ugandan officials were injured Tuesday night when a spiked security barrier, which normally recedes into the ground to allow authorized vehicles to pass safely, malfunction, shot up and slammed into their car as they drove, New Delhi Police spokesman Rajan Bhagat said.

The officials, including the Ugandan chef de mission William Tumwine, were thrown about the car as it braked sharply and sustained injuries ranging from cuts on the head to abrasions around their eyes, said Dora Kutesan, a Ugandan diplomat.

They were treated at a hospital and kept overnight for observation, and the Ugandan high commission filed a complaint with the Indian government, she said.

Ugandan Sports Minister Charles Bakkabulindi said he was furious that he had not received an apology from India.

“If they had seen their mistake quickly and shown sympathy that they have done a mistake, we wouldn’t have been annoyed. We would have said, ‘OK that’s an accident,'” he told India’s Times Now television. “But our concern is why is it that they are not coming out to say sorry to us, to make an apology. Should we take it that they are discriminating (against) some of the African countries to that extent?”

The Games, which run until Oct. 14, have also been plagued this week by sparse attendance at many events. Organizing committee chief Suresh Kalmadi said 125,000 tickets had been sold Wednesday for future events, allaying concerns about the empty seats at some of the venues.