World champion Hungarian swimmer Boglárka Kapás, announced on her official Facebook page in a video that she tested positive for coronavirus. The 26-year-old athlete is in good condition, asymptomatic, and will stay in home quarantine for two weeks.
Kapás, the first Hungarian athlete who has tested positive, said in the video that all swimmers were tested before continuing their training and only those who test negative are allowed back in the swimming pool to avoid further infections. Kapás first tested negative, but since she is asymptomatic, her second laboratory sample showed the virus in her system.
According to the swimmer, she would have needed two negative tests in order to continue her training, but as her second test came back positive, she is currently in quarantine for two weeks and cannot leave her flat. She added that “..for the time being, I feel perfectly well and haven’t noticed any symptoms.”
The Olympian Kapás was a bronze medalist in the 1500m freestyle at the 2015 Swimming World Cup in Russia. A year later, she won the bronze medal in the 800m freestyle at the 2016 Rio Olympics and finished fourth in the 400m freestyle. At the 2017 FINA World Championships in Budapest, she finished fourth and fifth in the 400 and 1500 meter freestyle, respectively. In the same year, she won a gold medal in the 400m freestyle and a silver in the 800m competition at the European Short Track Championship in Copenhagen. In 2018, Kapás became European Champion in the 200-meter butterfly, and in 2019, she won the same category at the World Championships in Gwangju.
Other swimmers who are currently in preparatory training, such as László Cseh and Dominik Kozma, are still waiting for their results. Kapás’ positive test result came on the heels of the news about the postponement of the 2020 Olympic Games due to the COVID-19 outbreak.
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The Olympic bronze medalist Kapás said that although she is rather confused and besides the potential pitfalls of the changes and prolongation in the preparation period, “…the postponement and given that I get extra months, even a year, might even come in handy as I can get better in the 200-meter butterfly.”
Featured photo by Tamás Kovács/MTI