Alessia Zarbo was at the center of worrying scenes at Stade de France during the women's 10,000m final .
As the race was coming to its conclusion, Zarbo fell to the ground and lay motionless as the rest of the field ran past her. Immediately emergency personnel raced to the French star's star to apply aid, as her fellow competitors raced by and attempted to stay focused on the task at hand.
A stretcher was then brought out to get Zarbo off the track . Zarbo received a "DNF" as a result, with Eretria's Rahel Daniel joining her as one of the two Olympians who was not able to finish the lengthy race.
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Beatrice Chebet of Kenya won the gold medal with a time of 30:43.25 with Italy's Nadia Battocletti taking home silver after posting a time of 30:43.25. Sifan Hassan rounded out the podium, finishing with a time of 30:44.12, as the Dutch star added a bronze medal to the gold medal she won during the 2020 Olympic Games in Tokyo.
After being stretchered off the track, a doctor with the French Athletics Federation was able to examine Zarbo. It is being reported that Zarbo "felt better" after leaving the race, according to news released by the federation.
It is unknown if Zarbo had been dealing with an illness, as it has been reported that COVID had been spreading around the Olympic Village. Perhaps the biggest name to have disclosed they had COVID was American track star Noah Lyles , who disclosed he had the virus after the 200m final.
Slated to win the race, Lyles uncharacteristically finished in third, behind Letsile Tebogo and Kednarek. After the race, Lyles collapsed to the floor and needed the help of a wheelchair to leave the track area .
Once he was able to recover after the race, the American - wearing a face mask - spoke to NBC to explain his condition , including when he contracted the virus, and why he elected to race despite feeling less than 100 percent. "I just was feeling really horrible. I knew it was more than just being sore from the 100,” Lyles shared.
"I woke up the doctors and tested and unfortunately it came up positive. My first thought was not to panic. I've been in worse situations. I've run with worse conditions. We just took it day by day. Me and my therapist said this a one-and-done.
"You know, there’s... there’s no holding back. I knew if I wanted to come out here and win, I had to give everything I had from the get-go. I didn’t have any time to save energy, so that was kind of the strategy for today."
Although he was suffering from COVID, Lyles elected not to tell his teammates that he had COVID out of an abundance of caution that he might be giving an edge to his competitors. "We were trying to keep this as close to the chest as possible," he said. "You never want to tell your competitors you’re sick; why would you give them an edge over you?"
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