Due to the Zika virus epidemic in Rio de Janeiro, one Olympian is taking an extreme preventive measure for his future children, according to Cosmopolitan.
Greg Rutherford, a long jumper for Great Britain, has decided to freeze his sperm. And it makes sense: Zika in pregnant women has been correlated with a birth deformity called microcephaly. The condition causes babies to be born with a head that is smaller than normal, which stunts the brain’s development. If he picked up Zika at the Olympics, he could easily give it to his partner, Susie Verrill, since the virus can be passed along through sex. The couple would like to have more kids to accompany their “feisty toddler,” Milo. So, Rutherford will freeze his sperm to ensure that his future children won’t contract the disease.
“We’ve also made the decision to have Greg’s sperm frozen. We’d love to have more children and with [Zika] research in its infancy, I wouldn’t want to put myself in a situation which could have been prevented,” wrote Verrill in a post for Standard Issue magazine.
While Rutherford will still be attending the Games, Verrill isn’t interested in risking it. Instead, she will be staying home with Milo and his grandparents. Among other reasons she lists in her Standard Issue article, she says that widespread concerns about Zika have been enough to sway her to stay in the UK and watch her man compete on “tha telleh” (the TV, everyone).
The Rio de Janeiro location of the Olympic Games has been met with some serious skepticism because of Zika. Not only did the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention post a health advisory back in January, but doctors and researchers have strongly suggested the Games get moved, postponed or even canceled because of the health risks. We’re glad to see Rutherford looking out for his way-in-the-future children and keeping his sperm nice and safe for his partner.