Kristina Knott has contracted COVID-19 despite being fully vaccinated.
Philippine Amateur Track and Field Association president Philip Juico shared the development moments after Knott punched her ticket to the Tokyo Olympics, Wednesday afternoon.
Knott, who had already been fully vaccinated with Pfizer’s product, would have competed in a tournament in Karlstad, Sweden.
“Kristina Knott contracted COVID and she was tested positive yesterday hours before her second to the last competition,” revealed Juico.
Knott’s coach Rohsaan Griffin added that the news came while they were having lunch before her scheduled competition. It came as a surprise knowing Knott was fully inoculated.
“We took the test on Monday when we arrived. We got the results back yesterday three hours before we were about to compete. She had no symptoms. She is fully vaccinated,” he said.
“There hasn’t been any lags in training or any signs that anything was going on with her. None of us contracted it. I’m the only other one that is fully vaccinated. So, it was kinda surreal. We thought it was a joke.”
The 25-year-old Filipino-American is currently in isolation and will take another test after five days. She is asymptomatic, as she has shown no symptoms.
Knott’s Team Pilipinas teammate Eric Cray tested negative, but has to isolate as well for close contact.
Just like Knott, Cray has been forced to sit out the tournament.
Both Griffin and Juico knew that Knott’s current situation is more of a mental than a physical battle in roads leading up to the Olympics.
“This is more mental than physical. This is a warning signal to everybody because everybody is in danger and exposed to this virus,” the long-time athletics chief Juico shared.
“It is a wake-up call for people to realize that this thing is very, very real. We take extreme caution, we take major precautions. We are not around with a lot of people, and we haven’t been around a lot of people this entire season,” added Griffin.
“It’s a real thing and people just need to be aware that this is what happened to us. So be careful out there.”
On the other hand, EJ Obiena has opted not to get inoculated heading into the game since it will affect his training as the Games get closer.
