Four-time major-championship winner Rory McIlroy announced Wednesday he was withdrawing from the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympics over concerns about the Zika virus, the most prominent athlete yet — but probably not the last — to choose to stay home.
“After speaking with those closest to me, I’ve come to realize that my health and my family’s health comes before anything else,” McIlroy, the world’s fourth-ranked golfer, said in a statement posted to his website. “Even though the risk of infection from the Zika virus is considered low, it is a risk nonetheless and a risk I am unwilling to take.”
The loss of McIlroy, a 27-year-old from Northern Ireland and one of the most popular golfers in the world, is the latest blow for both the Rio Olympics and the sport of golf, which is returning to the Olympics this summer for the first time in 112 years. Other top golfers who have announced they will skip Rio — citing either Zika or “scheduling” issues — include Australians Adam Scott and Marc Leishman, South Africans Louis Oosthuizen and Charl Schwartzel and Fiji’s Vijay Singh.
American cyclist Tejay van Garderen also announced earlier this month he would skip the Olympics, citing concerns over the Zika virus and his wife’s pregnancy.
Zika, transmitted primarily by mosquitoes, has been found to cause a serious birth defect in some babies of infected women and has been linked to Guillain-Barre syndrome, which can cause paralysis in adults. The World Health Organization has classified the virus as a “public health emergency of international concern,” but along with the International Olympic Committee has resisted calls for the Olympics to be postponed or moved out of Brazil.
The Olympics will run Aug. 5-21, which falls during Brazil’s winter, when mosquito populations are reduced. Brazil’s minister of sport said recently that cases of Zika in Rio de Janeiro had dropped from 7,000 in January to 700 in May, and officials hoped to have the number close to zero by August.
“The International Golf Federation is disappointed with Rory’s decision but recognizes that some players will have to weigh personally a unique set of circumstances as they contemplate their participation in golf’s historic return” to the Olympics, golf’s worldwide governing body said in a statement.
McIlroy, who dropped from third to fourth in the world rankings after missing the cut in last week’s U.S. Open, became engaged to his girlfriend, Erica Stoll, in December and has spoken about their hopes of starting a family soon.
Several prominent golfers who had previously embraced the chance to play for their countries in the Olympics have pivoted on the issue in recent weeks, among them world No. 1 Jason Day of Australia and world No. 2 Jordan Spieth of the U.S.
“It’s difficult to say right now,” Day, a 28-year-old father of two, told reporters two weeks ago when asked if he would play. “We’re just really trying to monitor what’s going on and make an educated decision, because obviously we’re not done having kids.”
Newly crowned U.S. Open champion Dustin Johnson, whose victory vaulted him past McIlroy into the No. 3 spot in the world rankings, confirmed two weeks ago that he “definitely” intends to play but would travel alone with his caddie to Brazil and leave his family at home.
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