This British swimmer caught Covid twice. Then he won Olympic gold.

“After getting Covid twice, having three weeks out of the pool each time,” Dean said in April, “it’s been pretty brutal coming into trials with some real disruptions.”

Now Dean can call himself something other than someone who qualified for the Olympics despite twice catching the virus that delayed these games by a year. He’s an Olympic champion.

Dean, 21 years old, won gold in the men’s 200m free in a British-record time of 1:44.22. He battled down the stretch to overcome a crowded field that included his countryman and silver medalist Duncan Scott and Brazil’s Fernando Scheffer, who wound up with the bronze.

Dean’s victory comes as not only Covid-19 infections continue to disrupt the Olympics, but also reinfections. It was just a couple days ago when Spanish golf star Jon Rahm tested positive just two months after he tested positive in the middle of a tournament he was winning. His first positive test cost him a near-certain victory worth almost $1.7 million. His second positive test cost him a chance at Olympic gold.

Dean’s positives came early enough that they didn’t interrupt his chance to be here. He previously told swimswam.com that they were slightly further apart than Rahm’s. The first, Dean said, came last September while the second one, that he told the swimming website was “very severe,” was around the new year.

A representative from British Swimming said they did not know whether Dean had been vaccinated.

While second positive tests or breakthrough infections, which come after someone has been fully vaccinated, can cause alarm, scientists say they’re not that uncommon and to be expected.

Their repeat positive tests are likely the result of getting exposed to the Covid-causing coronavirus twice. To know for sure, scientists would have to have sequenced both of their samples, experts said. If there were enough differences between the infecting viruses, that would suggest a true reinfection. Few countries have the capacity to do that kind of in depth screening. The world’s first official reinfection was detected in Hong Kong in August 2020 thanks to a highly organized testing regime.

“That’s the gold standard,” said Stanley Perlman, a University of Iowa virologist, of repeat sequencing.

“At this point with the Delta variant floating around, it’s probable [Rahm] was reinfected,” he added.

Some research suggests Delta is slightly better at evading antibodies generated by vaccines, though the shots are still very effective at fending off severe disease.

Dean’s Covid sequel happened before the widespread transmission of the Delta variant across the globe. Prior to that, other worrisome variants had traversed the world, including one that originated in the U.K.—known as Alpha—which earlier this year became the dominant version of the virus in several countries including the U.S.

While it is unclear whether Dean had been vaccinated, Rahm had received the one-dose Johnson & Johnson vaccine prior to his first positive. Yet he contracted Covid-19 within 14 days of receiving the shot, and the vaccines can take two weeks to realize their full effect.

Rahm, like Dean, put on a spectacular display despite testing positive. After Rahm’s first positive result, Rahm returned to become the first Spaniard to win the U.S. Open. But before he could head to Tokyo for the Olympics, he tested positive on the third test that was required for him after he had played in the British Open in Sandwich, England.

—Laine Higgins contributed to this article.

Disclaimer: This story has been published from a wire agency feed without modifications to the text.