Over 50 England, Australian swimmers sick in Delhi

MELBOURNE/LONDON - More than 50 swimmers from England and Australia have taken ill at the Commonwealth Games, with at least two of the Australian swimmers pulling out of their events.

Team England has officially sought an assurance over the safety of the swimming pool, The Telegraph reported.

Silver medallist Michael Rock Thursday morning put out a tweet that he felt like throwing up on the pool deck.

The Telegraph said the conditions at the swimming pool have been worsened by a sewage blockage that prevents the toilets from flushing.

Commonwealth Games president Mike Fennell said: “If it is something unsafe and you can’t swim in that water, then we will deal with it and deal with it with the greatest of urgency.”

Two days back, the start of the 4×100m men’s freestyle relay was delayed to scoop out feathers and insects from the England team lane, the Telegraph said.

It added that pigeon droppings was commonplace inside the venue.

England swimming’s team leader John Atkinson, told the daily that 20 percent of the swimmers have been affected by illness, although estimates were later revised to about 40 of the 66-strong team.

The England swimmers are not the only ones to be hit. A dozen Australian swimmers too have fallen ill.

Three Australians, including Andrew Lauterstein and Hayden Stoeckel who pulled out Thursday, are suffering from gastroenteritis. At least 10 other swimmers are down with a milder form of Delhi belly, AAP reported.

Australian chef de mission Steve Moneghetti was concerned by the number of swimmers falling sick.

An Australian athlete too has been hit by gastroenteritis, and at least five team members from other sports were ill, the Australian Associated Press quoted him as saying.

“There seems to be a larger number of swimmers. It seems quite isolated to the swim team at the moment.

“The doctor doesn’t think it’s food related because it’s more confined to one particular sport. We’re all eating in the dining hall, we’re all eating the same food and there’s very few cases across the board, it seems like there’s more cases in the one sport,” Moneghetti said.

He said it was possible the pool or its facilities could be making the swimmers sick.

“I would only be speculating but at this point in time it’s where the swimmers have come from or what the swimmers are doing.

“I don’t want to jump to conclusions because we have no medical evidence as to why this is happening,” Moneghetti said.

He said the water quality at the Dr.S.P. Mukherjee Aquatics Complex had been tested.

“They’ve done tests … and our swimmers wouldn’t go into the water without the tests coming through.”