Belgian triathlon star Claire Michel provides health update after ‘conflicting information’ following Olympics Mixed Relay withdrawal

Claire Michel says she is back home in Belgium and “gradually doing better” after the illness which resulted in her team withdrawing from the Olympic Games Mixed Relay at Paris 2024.

The 35-year-old star made global news headlines late on Sunday when it was revealed Belgium was pulling its team out of Monday’s race because she was ill.

Some media outlets claimed she had been impacted by E. Coli and had been hospitalised for four days. Michel of course had swum in the River Seine on Wednesday to start the women’s individual race amid the controversy around water quality in the iconic waterway.

Claire Michel update

After returning home though, Claire published a post on her Instagram account, in a bid to clarify what had happened.

She wrote: “There’s been a lot of conflicting information in the media lately, so I just wanted to clarify a few things:

“First of all, thanks to great medical care from both the @teambelgium medical team and the incredible volunteer doctors and nurses at the Polyclinic in the Olympic village, I am gradually doing better and I returned home to Belgium today.

“Blood tests showed that I contracted a virus (not E. Coli). After three days of vomiting and diarrhoea, which left me quite empty, on Sunday I ended up needing more significant medical attention at the clinic.”

Devastated for team-mates

Michel also spoke of how devastated she was that the Belgian team was not able to compete in Monday’s race in Paris.

“Lastly, while the whole team fully understood and supported our decision not to start the relay, my heart goes out first and foremost to my fellow @belgianhammers@martenvanriel@jellegeens and @jolien_vermeylen who also lost out on another chance to race 😔

“Belgium is a relatively small country, but with a strong relay tradition across many sports. The #belgianhammers was a project we started in Tokyo with the first ever Triathlon Mixed Team Relay, where we rallied to 5th place finish (also after difficult circumstances). We wanted nothing more than to improve on that performance to inspire the next generation.

“So if I have one wish for the future generation of Belgian Hammers it’s that not only will you always fight until the end, but you will also support each other to the end. This is something I can certainly take away from both my relay experiences here in Paris and in Tokyo.”