A Facebook post suggests that the deaths of two athletes during the Comrades Marathon, an annual ultramarathon held in South Africa, was precipitated by an “injected post-salvation” — a common language in messages critical of vaccination against Covid-19.
It is true that two ultramarathon runners died during the South African sporting event. According to Athletics Magazine, one of the victims was named Yzameleni Mthembu and she fainted after running 78 kilometers of the race, missing just another 12 to reach the finish line.
Post makes false assumptions about the athletes’ cause of death, but the news he shares is true.
Although so far the reason for death has not been disclosed, the organization of the ultramarathon explained that “Mthembu had complications along the way and passed out in Pinetown. The other victim was Phakamile Ntshiza, who “will have died before being transported to hospital when he had run almost half the way”.
At no time in this news -which despite being true was instrumentalized in the publication under analysis- is it about the death of the two athletes associated with the vaccination against Covid-19. The only time the disease was mentioned in the article was when it was reported that this test “took place for the first time after the lifting of Covid-19 restrictions in South Africa“.
Even before the pandemic, deaths had already been recorded during the Comrades Marathon. An article published in The South African Medical Journal in 2007 said that until then, 13 years before the appearance of SARS-CoV-2, seven people had died during the ordeal, which had lasted 82 years.
In addition, this is not the only case of the Comrades Marathon, nor among foreign athletes. On July 15, 1912, The Portuguese Francisco Lázaro lost consciousness during the marathon at the Olympic Games in Stockholm, Sweden, and finally died. Death, although shrouded in mystery due to suspicions of doping, was attributed to a failure caused by heat stroke and dehydration. 100 years ago there was still no Covid-19 and there were already deaths due to the physical demands of these tests.
conclusion
There is no evidence that the death of two athletes in a South African marathon was caused by any reaction to the Covid-19 vaccine. The vaccination status of the two marathon runners is not even reported in the article that served as the basis for the false publication. And deaths in similar circumstances have occurred in the past and in other tests.
Thus, according to the Observer classification, this content is:
WRONG
In the Facebook classification system this content is:
FAKE: The main content claims are factually inaccurate. This option typically matches “false” or “mostly false” ratings on fact-checking websites.
NOTE: This content was curated by The Observer as part of a fact-checking partnership with Facebook.
Source: Observadora
