Golfer Rory McIlroy withdraws from Rio Olympics over Zika concerns

Golfer Rory McIlroy, 27, announced Wednesday that he would be withdrawing from the Rio Olympics over concerns about the Zika virus. With golf returning to the Olympics for the first time in 112 years, McIlroy would have represented Northern Ireland in the games.

While he confessed the risk of contracting Zika is low, McIlroy is engaged to be married and planning a family. "[It] is a risk nonetheless, and a risk I am unwilling to take," he said in a statement.

Zika, which is primarily spread via mosquitos, can also be contracted through sexual contact. Other athletes have also taken measures to protect themselves in Brazil, such as freezing their sperm or abstaining from competition altogether. Spain has shipped 3,000 bottles of bug spray to Rio to protect its own athletes.

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up

In June, the World Health Organization advised that visitors to regions that have the Zika virus consider delaying pregnancy. Zika has been linked to thousands of cases of microcephaly, a rare birth defect that causes babies to be born with abnormally small heads, as well as other severe brain defects. WHO made its recommendation because there is no known treatment to keep pregnant women with Zika from transmitting the disease to their unborn babies.