Local Olympic star athlete on her way to recovery after testing positive for Covid-19
A local Olympic athlete who recently tested positive for the Corona virus has fully recovered and she is back on the training track.
The Tuks-Puma athlete Wenda Nel seems to be well on her way to full recovery after having tested positive for the Covid-19 virus.
This week will be the fifth week that the 400m-hurdler is back in training. Judging with the ease with which Nel is sprinting down the track, it is hard to believe that she was ill. She is, however, not taking anything for granted. It is a case of taking it day by day.
“I have no plans to race this season. This means there is no rush to peak any time soon. I am very attentive to how my body reacts to whatever exercise I might be doing. If my heart rate gets too high, I will immediately stop and alert my coach, Hennie Kriel. He is, anyway, regularly accessing my progress,” she explained.
Nel said she can honestly say that since she resumed training, there was never a time that she felt ill.
“It is hard to say why my heart rate ‘spikes’ at times. I don’t think it is because of the Covid-virus. It could be because I am not yet quite as fit as I used to be. So ‘touch wood’ I don’t think I have sustained any long-lasting side-effects,” she remarked.
Nel has been a force in South African athletics since 2009. The Tuks athlete won her first senior national title in 2010, and since went on to win another seven gold medals in the 400m-hurdles during the South African Championships.
Some of her career highlights were setting a personal best time of 54.37s in 2015 in Beijing, finishing fifth the same year at the world championships and winning a bronze medal during the Gold Coast Commonwealth Games.
The Sport, Exercise Medicine and Lifestyle Institute (SEMLI) is leading an international research study to better understand the health impact of respiratory tract infections, including Covid-19 in athletes.
According to the SEMLI’s director, professor Martin Schwellnus, more than 50 athletes are already part of the project.
“Because Covid-19 is a new respiratory tract infection, we do not know much about it. In particular, we do not know much about its effect on athletes. Specifically, we need information on the types and severity of the symptoms in athletes, how long symptoms last, and how athletes feel when they get back to training and competition after Covid-19,”prof. Schwellnus explained.
He said as part of the ‘Aware Research Project’, they designed a series of questions that will help them get a better understanding. This information will be vital in advising athletes how they should go about getting back to full sports performance safely after having had Covid-19 or any other respiratory tract infection.
The link to the questionnaire is – https://is.gd/awarestudy_v1
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