Kim Hill, a Rio Olympic volleyball bronze medalist, was recently with teammates in a park near her apartment in Italy when police arrived.
“They came and took our IDs, and they reported us and blah, blah, blah,” Hill said on a podcast with the Portland (Ore.) Tribune, a newspaper in her hometown, published Friday. “I think we’re not going to get in trouble. It’ll be fine. It should be fine. They’re going to go easy on us. They gave us a stern talking to. It’s definitely not allowed [to congregate in the park], so it’s pretty crazy.”
Hill is one of the rare U.S. Olympic hopefuls who remained in Europe amid the coronavirus pandemic. Many U.S. indoor volleyball players are on Italian club teams. Hill plies her trade with Imoco Volley, the 2019 FIVB Club World champion.
Imoco played its last closed-doors match March 7, two days before all sports in Italy were suspended until at least April 3.
Italy now has the second-most coronavirus cases in the world after China and the most reported deaths, according to the World Health Organization. NBC News has full coronavirus coverage here.
“It’s an interesting time in Italy, but we’re hanging in there, surviving, quarantine,” Hill said. “We’re not able to do much. We’re in our apartment. Thankfully, my whole team lives in the same apartment building, so we’re able to hang out together, but we’re allowed to go, basically, to practice and back and to the grocery store and back. We have, like, papers to put on our car to tell the police that we’re going to practice or wherever it is, so it’s pretty strict as of now.”
Hill confirmed that her club’s coach asked the team to stay in Italy in hopes the season resumes later this spring. Hill said part of her would like to be at her condo in California, but that she would be quarantined by herself there if so.
“Here I get to hang out with my teammates and my friends,” she said. “I’m having enough fun.”
Many other non-Italians left the country earlier this month. That group reportedly includes two-time Olympian and six-time U.S. indoor player of the year Matt Anderson, who plays for Modena in Northern Italy.
“When it first started to come, I got my family out, my fiancée and our son,” Anderson said, according to the Buffalo (N.Y.) News, his hometown newspaper. Anderson came back to the U.S. two weeks ago, according to the report.
Hill, 30 and the 2014 World Championship MVP, said she will probably end her professional volleyball career after the Tokyo Games.
“I’m not totally closing the door because I just want to keep my options open, but I haven’t signed any contract for next season,” she said. “So I’m going to take some rest and kind of reevaluate.”
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