Allergic reaction sends Filipino gymnast to ER less than week before she competes

PARIS — A Filipino gymnast’s Olympic experience was almost over before it began because of an allergic reaction.

Levi Jung Ruivivar told Gymcastic.com, a gymnastics podcast, that she went into anaphylactic shock Monday and had to go to the emergency room at the Olympic Village. Ruivivar said she has a tree nut allergy and had to use her epi pen as she walked around the village looking for the ER.

“I actually don’t know what happened,” Ruivivar told Gymcastic. “I don’t know what it was from. I hadn’t eaten anything in three or four hours. I don’t know what got in my system, but it was really, really bad. My whole face swelled up.”

Ruivivar said she’s had a similar reaction once before and was out of the gym for two weeks afterward. On Thursday, she was on the Olympic floor for podium training. She’ll compete in qualifying Sunday.

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“I’m trying to recover from it. It’s really hard because there’s not a lot I can about it. I’m just trying to push through and do as much as I can,” she said.

“(It) does suck,” Ruivivar added. “Leading up, the preparation was going really well and I was feeling good. My body will just continue to recover, but it took a lot out of my system.”

Ruivivar is part of a three-woman team from the Philippines, all of whom originally represented the United States. Ruivivar is eligible to compete for the Philippines because her paternal grandfather was born there, coming to the United States as a teenager. “I am here for the experience as well,” Ruivivar said. “Even if it’s not my best gymnastics, I can try to give a performance that hopefully is memorable, in a good way, and try to get back to where I was before.”