And Hope Solo, 34, said that, were the Olympics held today, she would not be attending, since Zika was causing a spike in brain deformities among children born to infected mothers.
“If I had to make the choice today, I wouldn’t go,” she told Sports Illustrated from Texas, where on Wednesday the women’s national team will play an Olympic qualifying match against Costa Rica.
Unlike other Olympic events, which will take place in the Rio de Janeiro area, Olympic soccer will be held in cities outside Rio – Manaus, Salvador, Brasília, Belo Horizonte and São Paulo – some of which have higher rates than Rio of mosquito-borne viruses like Zika.
Solo, who’s married to former American football player Jerramy Stevens, said she was aware of the fact that you can have a perfectly safe pregnancy once you have recovered from Zika. But she was uncomfortable with the risk.
“I would never take the risk of having an unhealthy child,” she said.
"I don’t know when that day will come for Jerramy and me, but I personally reserve my right to have a healthy baby. No athlete competing in Rio should be faced with this dilemma. Female professional athletes already face many different considerations and have to make choices that male professional athletes don’t.
“We accept these particular choices as part of being a woman, but I do not accept being forced into making the decision between competing for my country and sacrificing the potential health of a child, or staying home and giving up my dreams and goals as an athlete.
“Competing in the Olympics should be a safe environment for every athlete, male and female alike. Female athletes should not be forced to make a decision that could sacrifice the health of a child.”
Brazilian authorities insist there will be no risk to athletes and spectators, except pregnant women, when the Rio Games take place in August.
But Kenya’s team is the first to say they are considering not attending.
Kipchoge Keino, head of Kenya’s Olympic Committee, said: "We are not going to risk taking Kenyans there if this Zika virus reaches epidemic levels."
The committee later sought to clarity Mr Keino's comments, saying he may have been quoted out of context, and Kenya's chef de mission, Stephen Soi, said it was too early to determine the severity of the situation. He added that Rio's organisers were "on top of things".
- Telegraph