“If it turns out that it would be a massive threat to myself or to Nic or to the little man, then I probably wouldn’t go”, said the world No. 9.
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“There’s going to be a point in the next couple of years where we’re [fiancee Erica Stoll] going to have to think about starting a family”, McIlroy told the BBC. “I am actually going to get my injections on Wednesday”.
A vote on whether to continue that association will be made before Japan and a diluted field in Rio will not help its chances.
McIlroy continued to relish the notion of “going down there and competing for an Olympic medal”, but said he was concerned about what he was learning about the virus.
McIlroy is scheduled to play for Ireland as golf makes its return to the Olympics for the first time since 1904.
While Adam Scott, Louis Oosthuizen and Charl Schwartzel have announced they will not compete because of scheduling reasons, Vijay Singh and Marc Leishman have both cited Zika as a reason.
McIlroy, following Sunday’s Irish Open victory, conceded that what experts are predicting could be a “full-blown global health disaster” due to the 2016 Olympic Games in Brazil have him “monitoring” the risks associated with the epidemic. “But right now I am going and looking forward to it”.
The Department of Foreign Affairs recently warned the Philippine Sports Commission on the proliferation of dengue and Zika virus within Olympic Park, where the majority of the competitions will be held.
The mosquito-borne Zika virus has been linked to a birth defect known as microcephaly, which can lead to babies with abnormally small heads and underdeveloped brains. McIlroy is from Northern Ireland, which is part of the United Kingdom and fields just one Olympic team; in amateur sporting competitions, McIlroy always represented all of Ireland, which he ended up choosing to do in this case.
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Golf is only guaranteed as an Olympic sport through 2020 in Tokyo, and will be voted upon as an Olympic event beyond that between Rio and Tokyo. But it doesn’t quite work like that.
