DESPITE having received two jabs of the Pfizer vaccine, Olympic-bound sprinter Kristina Knott tested positive for COVID-19 early yesterday (Tuesday in Europe) and had to withdraw, at the last minute, from the Karlstad Grand Prix in Karlstad, Sweden, according to athletics chief Philip Juico.
“While Kristina was fully vaccinated, she tested positive for COVID-19 just a few hours before she was about to compete in her second-to-the-last event,” Juico said in an online press conference. “Hotel personnel and meet organizers informed her shortly after lunch of the development.”
“I thought it was joke. Are you kidding us? But it was not,” said American coach Rohsaan Griffin, who is with the athlete in Sweden. “Now, she (Knott) will have to stay five days in confinement and have another test before we are able to leave.”
Griffin said they brought their own test kits to Sweden and after testing Knott with it “she tested negative. So we requested another test from the organizers but she came back positive.”
Knott’s predicament also had an adverse effect on hurdler and fellow Olympic aspirant Eric Shawn Cray, who likewise had to pull out of the meet because he was in close contact with his fellow national teammate.
Cray, who has recovered from COVID-19 and is still not vaccinated, tested negative for the lethal virus after he, Knott, Griffin and Italian fitness and conditioning trainer Carlo Buzichelli had swab tests last Monday on the eve of the event.
Griffin said they have been forced to skip Knott’s last meet, the Kourtane Games in Kuortane, Finland, this coming weekend because of her present condition.
On the other hand, Cray, accompanied by Buzichelli, is scheduled to take part in a meet in Gothenburg in two days in his last-ditch bid to qualify for Tokyo.
The coach said that he is more worried about Knott’s mental well-being than her physical shape because “a blow like this can do a lot to your mental state. But KK (Knott’s nickname) is a quiet warrior, she is upbeat.
“Knowing her, she is probably listening to music and dancing in her room. What I want to do right now is get her out of confinement and out of here as soon as possible. Maybe this five-day rest is for the best considering this tumultuous season. This is a wake-up to all that COVID-19 is real. ”
