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Covid-19: whether or not to promote the vaccine, a divisive subject among athletes

2021-09-17T07:03:40.914Z


Few of the champions have invested in promoting vaccination against Covid-19. It must be said that the ground can be slippery


Attention, divisive subject.

In recent months, we have become accustomed to hearing a little more athletes express themselves on societal themes and display themselves, for example, openly against racism or homophobia.

On the other hand, it seems more difficult to go proselytizing in the intimate field of health, which can easily be understood.

What legitimacy greater than a doctor or a researcher can a champion, was he Olympic, to encourage or not his fans to run to be vaccinated?

To speak out is also to open the door to recovery or instrumentalisation.

In France, few sports stars have “promoted” the vaccine against Covid-19.

130 personalities (including Florent Manaudou, Kevin Mayer, Olivier Giroud or Yannick Noah) had signed a column published by RMC in favor of vaccination in January 2021, but without all of them being themselves convinced of the validity of vaccination.

Read alsoPolemics over the vaccine and the medals in 2024: Teddy Riner says no to the instrumentalization of athletes

At the end of April, the Ministry of Health planned to use the image of a few gondola heads for an awareness campaign.

A delicate timing at the very moment when the vaccination of athletes qualified for the Tokyo Olympics began almost on the sly in order not to offend public opinion too much.

“For me, the vaccine is a personal decision, slips Rudy Gobert, the basketball player and star of the Utah Jazz.

There are people who are qualified to say things and it is not my role to tell people to get vaccinated or not.

Everyone has the resources to educate themselves and do what they think is right for them.

"

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Kylian Mbappé (@ k.mbappe)

It is hardly that Kylian Mbappé to have proudly posted at the end of May on social networks, a week after his teammate at PSG Neymar, a photo of his right arm adorned with a small bandage.

The initiative of the striker of the Blues, greeted by President Macron during a pre-Euro visit to Clairefontaine ("Thank you for the vaccine. No, really, it was great"), had also earned him a surge of conspiratorial reactions.

More team sports memberships

Gaël Monfils, too, exhibited his (left) arm in the spring.

The rugby players of Racing 92 or the footballers of Grenoble, for example, have shown themselves publicly.

Last week, OM, where 100% of the workforce is vaccinated, published a series of Instagram stories to push for a collective effort.

Collective, that's the word.

Vaccination has spread more easily in team sports, where everyone also plays the game for their teammate.

1st dose✔️😃 #VaccinationCovid pic.twitter.com/4Jt2nW6ARm

- Gael Monfils (@Gael_Monfils) April 30, 2021

A solidarity that hardly exists in tennis, where barely half of the members of the ATP and the WTA have gone through the bite box.

With clearly identified pros and cons.

Nadal or Federer have had their fill.

“The only way out is the vaccine,” summed up the Spaniard.

"We have a responsibility as players who travel the world to also look after everyone," slips the former world No. 1 Andy Murray.

I am happy to be vaccinated.

Hopefully more players will choose to have it in the coming months.

"

Tennis stars against

There are however serious and refractory media, starting with the current king of the circuit, Novak Djokovic, or Stefanos Tsitsipas, n ° 3 at ATP. “No one made the vaccine an obligation. At some point I should do it I'm pretty sure but so far it hasn't been mandatory to play so I didn't, let go of the Greek before the US Open. For me, the vaccine has not been sufficiently tested, this is new. I personally know people who have had side effects. For young people, I think it is good to overcome this virus to build their immunity. I want to see a better version of the vaccine, which will give more advantages than disadvantages… ”

A position that made the Hellenic government jump. "Those who are a reference for larger audiences should be doubly more careful to express this kind of views," reacted the spokesperson for the executive. Basically, it is better to stay in your area of ​​expertise. Did Olivier Véran or Didier Raoult already give advice to the finalist of the last Roland-Garros on his pee breaks?

Source: leparis

All sports articles on 2021-09-17

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