Campbell quarantined with bug

DAVID CAMPBELL’S participation in the world championships in Osaka was in the balance last night after he was quarantined from the other members of the Irish team with what Dr Bill Cuddihy, the team doctor, described as a viral tummy bug.

Dr Cuddihy, whose daughter, Joanne, broke the Irish 400m record later in the day, said the Maynooth man, who is scheduled to compete in the 800m heats on Thursday, came down to the track to train on Sunday night and had quite a bad episode of diarrhoea.

“When he came back up to the hotel he was quite weak and his temperature was quite high,” he said. “I arranged with the organisers to go down to a local emergency room where he was treated, got IV fluids, had bloods taken and then rest.

“He came back to the team hotel [Sunday] night and I checked on him again [yesterday] morning. His temperature is now back to normal, his pulse has slowed down and he is taking oral fluids. He has not had any more episodes of diarrhoea. He has been moved into a room of his own to prevent any possible spread.”

Dr Cuddihy examined him again yesterday evening and was not ruling out the possibility that he will take part in the heats on Thursday.

“He is due to race on Thursday,” he said. “And he is still very optimistic about racing. We’ll just have to see how he is.”

It is not known how he contracted the virus which came upon him quite quickly.

“He did not eat anything odd or peculiar that the rest of us weren’t eating,” Dr Cuddihy said. “They were all eating the same diet. I don’t know how it happened.”

Campbell, one of two athletes with the B standard for Osaka, claimed his place in the team when he beat the other, Thomas Chamney, at the national championships before going on to complete a double in the 1,500m.