Canadian Olympic gold medalist Alexander Kopacz of London, Ontario has tested positive for coronavirus, and as a result is in hospital, according to the Canadian Press on Saturday. Kopacz, who has required oxygen in hospital to help him breathe, won the gold medal for Canada in two-man bobsled at the 2018 Olympic Winter Games in Pyeongchang with driver Justin Kripps of Summerland, British Columbia.
Among the symptoms Kopacz has suffered from are severe coughing, a high fever, chills that prevented him from sleeping, and problems just breathing. At 31 years of age, Kopacz is too young to be vaccinated in the province of Ontario.
Kopacz and Kripps posted a gold medal-winning time of 3:16.86. The Canadian team actually tied with Germany to win gold, as Francesco Friedrich and Thorsten Margis also placed first. As a result, no silver medal was awarded.
Kopacz and Kripps are one of two Canadian bobsled duos to share an Olympic gold medal. At the 1998 Olympic Winter Games in Nagano, Pierre Lueders of Edmonton, Alberta, and Dave MacEachern of Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island posted a time of 3:37.24. It was the exact same time as Italian Olympic gold medalists Gunther Huber and Antonio Tartaglia.
There have been 441, 404 cases in the province of Ontario. There have also been 7887 deaths in Canada’s most populated province.
