Rio | Russian athlete and Greco-Roman wrestling 2016 gold medalist, Davit Chakvetadze, said he blamed the Zika virus for his abnormally small testicles after undergoing a thorough medical examination by the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA).
The Russian athlete, that is suspected to have been under the influence of anabolic steroids during the 2014 Sochi games, went under scrutiny by a medical team from the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) at the 2016 Rio Olympics this week.
“They have blacklisted the Russian team and are trying to find anything they can to ruin our bid at the Rio Olympics,” said his instructor, Anatoli Groutchevko.
“His abnormally small testicles are a clear symptom of the Zika virus”
-Anatoli Groutchevko, Russian instructor
In contradiction, testicular size reduction is commonly associated with the prolonged use of anabolic steroids, claim experts.
Anatoli Groutchevko, the Russian instructor for the 2016 Greco-Roman Russian wrestling team, claims that “small testicles are a clear symptom of the Zika virus”
An “absurd” claim
Brazil-based world reknown Zika expert, Roberto Guadalajara, says the claim that the Zika virus could even remotely modify the size of one’s genitals is “blatantly absurd”.
“Zika virus is believed to affect pregnant women and their unborn children, giving them symptoms of microcephaly, a disease that slows the development of the child’s brain, giving it a smaller size” he explained when reached by phone.
“But there is no proof that it has any effect on the size of the genitalia of grown men” he confirmed yesterday.
Originally Russia submitted a list of 389 athletes for competition at the 2016 Rio Olympics. On 7 August 2016, the IOC cleared 278 athletes, while 111 were removed because of the 2014 Sochi doping scandal.