Nabahiran ng lungkot ang kasiyahan ng kampo ng track star na si Kristina Knott sa kanyang pagkamit ng inaasam na Olympic slot sa pamamagitan ng “universality rule” kasama ng iba pang mga track athletes mula Iceland, Singapore at South Sudan.
Ito’y nang magpositibo ito sa coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) na tiyak na makaaapekto sa kanyang paghahanda sa pagsabak sa darating na Tokyo Olympics.
Mismong ang Philippine Athletics Track and Field Association (PATAFA) ang naglabas ng naturang balita.
Hindi umano makapaniwala ang coach ni Knott na si Roshan Griffin sa pangyayari dahil kumpleto na sa bakuna ang Fil-Am sprinter matapos magpabakuna ng Pfizer noong Mayo at ngayong buwan sa Florida.
“She has no symptoms as she is already fully vaccinated. There hasn’t been any lags in training or anything wrong that’s going on with her. None of us contracted it. I’m the only one that’s fully vaccinated,” wika ni Griffin matapos nilang malaman ang resulta ng test na ginawa kay Knott bago sumalang sa Karlstad Grand Prix.
Kasalukuyan na ngayong nasa 5-day quarantine si Knott sa Sweden.
“It was kind of surreal to me that we thought it was just a joke. We always carry an emergency test kit with ourselves for instances like this. So she took the test and she came back negative. So they did a check and that second test came back positive,” dagdag ni Griffin.
At dahil may isang buwan pang nalalabi para maka-recover at bago ang kanyang kompetisyon, tiniyak ni athletics president Philip Ella Juico na mananatili ang pagiging kinatawan ni Knott sa darating na Summer Games na sisimulan ng Hulyo 23.
“Her spot will be retained. This is not yet the start of the Olympics. She has a month to recover before the Olympics,”ani Juico.
Marivic Awitan
