For Marc Leishman, it was the simplest, most difficult choice he had ever had to make.
M. Leishman Olympic Games Tokyo 2020
Five years ago, he desperately wanted to be the Australian Olympic representative. However, doing so would be dangerous for his wife’s health.
After being diagnosed with sepsis in 2015, physicians gave Audrey Leishman a 5% chance of survival. She is still healing. Over the subsequent year and a half, her immune system remained severely weakened. Almost once a week, she’d fall ill.
Marc Leishman knew he couldn’t fly to Rio de Janeiro in good conscience with the Zika virus wreaking havoc in the lead up to the Olympics.
He couldn’t bring Zika or any other exotic Sickness home to his Family.
In addition, once Audrey was healthy enough, she very much wanted to expand her family by welcoming a third child to join her already-existing boys Harvey and Ollie.
That was a time when I was constantly ill. To this day, Audrey still has trouble recalling how many antibiotics she took in that first year. “It was tough since I was still compromised and all I wanted to do was try for another baby.
However, they all insisted that I get better and quit Getting sick every week.
But then the Olympics come along, and it’s the chance of a lifetime for Marc, and you would never dream of robbing him of that.
After much deliberation and consultation with my medical team, Marc’s withdrawal became an inevitable choice.
“You don’t want to give up any chance to represent your nation,” Leishman said, so the choice was obvious but still difficult.
But there was no way I could have Risked Audrey’s Safety any Longer.
There was also the fact that having more children was something we hoped for, and Zika presented a risk to that.
The six-time winner of the PGA TOUR could only shake his head as it became clear that the COVID-19 outbreak would delay the 2020 Tokyo Games. Just how likely was it that a virus would derail his Olympic hopes not once, but twice?
The Games may be delayed by a year and will be held under strict health rules and without spectators, but the Warrnambool native will still join his pal Cameron Smith on Australia’s Olympic squad. They finished second in the 2018 World Cup of Golf as a pair, and they won the 2018 Zurich Classic of New Orleans.
Although I did not end up Going to Rio,
I would have loved to have attended under different circumstances. I would love to make this Olympic appearance my second, but my family comes first. This has gotten me quite enthusiastic.
I feel like there was a chance lost to make it even cooler than it already is. Having a playoff for gold and silver would be tremendous, especially if the competition was a matchplay format.
