Rio Olympic Games 2016: Cate Campbell says Zika virus threat won’t derail her hunt for gold

POOL queen Cate Campbell put golf’s stay-at-home stars in their place when she said: “It would take a lot more than Zika to stop me from going to Rio.”

Cate Campbell says the Olympics matters more to swimmers than golfers.

POOL queen Cate Campbell yesterday put golf’s stay-at-home stars in their place when she said: “It would take a lot more than Zika to stop me from going to Rio.”

Campbell gave the strong impression she’d personally swat away any army of mosquitoes brave enough to get between her and the blocks for the Olympic 100m freestyle in August.

The 2013 world champion said the solidarity of the 39-strong swim squad was unwavering because they put the Olympics on a different pedestal to professional golfers.

The threat of the mosquito-borne Zika virus has spooked Australia’s world No. 1 Jason Day, Ireland’s Rory McIlroy and a host of others into pulling the pin on golf’s return to the Olympics.

“When you see the Olympics as the pinnacle of any sport, all athletes are in,” Campbell said.

“It’s obviously disappointing if any athlete pulls off the Australian team because Jason would have been a great asset.

“I don’t think you’ll see any swimmers leaving the team.”

Potential birth defects in unborn children and sickness worries for Zika victims are real but an update from Rio Olympics chief medical officer Joao Grangeiro painted the threat as minimal.

Bronte and Cate Campbell are medal favourites at the Rio Olympics.

“Zero Zika infections have been reported among 17,000 athletes, volunteers and staff participating at test events in Rio during the lead-up to the Olympics,” Grangeiro said in a June 7 statement.

In the US on Thursday, Adam Scott, the first golfer to withdrew from Rio, said golf was also its own worst enemy for the Olympics.

He was no fan of a flat individual format instead of a possible teams event or embracing amateurs.

“I think they should change the format, for sure,” Scott said at the Bridgestone Invitational.

“Just having another 72-hole golf tournament with a weaker-than-most field doesn’t really pique my interest.

“If I think back to when I was 16 or 17-years-old and a promising golfer, making the Olympics would be something that I’d want to do very much and also be a very big deal.”

Australia's Jason Day has pulled out of the Rio Games due to Zika virus fears.

Campbell’s younger sister Bronte said she was focused only on good hit-outs on Friday and Saturday in the Rio Farewell Grand Prix at the Brisbane Aquatic Centre at Chandler.

The Olympic 100m freestyle favourite said she’d weighed up the Zika threat and dismissed it.

“Cate and I are both quite young (at 24 and 22) and even if we did contract Zika we are not looking to have children in the next two years,” Bronte said.

“I can see the concern of older athletes and also that winning an Olympic gold is swimming’s pinnacle and the Masters is the high for golf.”

Both sisters collecting an Adidas gear bag overflowing with new Olympic tracksuits and competition gear at a team muster in Brisbane on Thursday made Rio seem so much closer.

“It’s one of the things that really cements it in your mind and makes it seem real after all the work that has been put in,” Cate said.

“It’s getting closer to taper time and easing off the big workloads and for a swimmer that is better than Christmas.”

Originally published as Rio Olympic Games 2016: Cate Campbell says Zika virus threat won’t derail her hunt for gold