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17
Aug

Medical Services at The Olympic Games

Have you ever wondered what Medical Services Olympians have behind the scenes allowing them to achieve their dreams?

In London 2012 it was estimated that 10% of athletes would suffer an injury requiring attention, and 7% would contract an illness. An Olympic Medical Director was famously quoted as saying the Olympics were where “the viruses of the world came to meet”!

Each host city has had its own challenges. In Beijing 2008, both the organising committee and our own Dr Peter Baquie (Medical Director – Australian Olympic Team) had specific concerns about asthma, air quality and bird flu. In Rio 2016, authorities have had to deal with issues around Zika virus and water quality.

Olympic Park Sports Medicine Centre’s practitioners, as you would expect, have had a long history of involvement with Australian teams at the Olympic Games. Rio 2016 is no different, with a number of our practitioners being appointed for various positions within the Australian team. A number of our other practitioners have been involved in preparatory camps for Australian teams, and we are proud to support a number of Olympians achieving their dreams, whilst cheering them on from home!

Medical services to Olympians are provided through 3 main organisations/vehicles depending on the size of teams, number of athletes and resources of the nations:

  • Local Organising Committee medical services (including FIFA)
  • National Olympic Committee (eg: AOC) medical services
  • National Sporting Organisation team medical services

LOCAL ORGANISING COMMITTEE (LOC) services are part of the Olympic Charter when a city is awarded the Games. These responsibilities include providing services for athletes, the Olympic family, officials and spectators. Rio 2016 called for over 5000 healthcare volunteers from all around the world to join the Local Organising Committee Medical Service.

For athletes, this starts with the Polyclinic (essentially a mini-hospital located within the Olympic Village, providing medical and Allied Health services on site.) It is staffed by volunteers, and provides a range of relevant services to athletes, including general practice, sports medicine, physiotherapy, massage, podiatry, dentistry and optometry. They also offer a range of radiology services on site (MRI, CT, Xray, Ultrasound, Fluoroscopy) as well as the ability to perform minor procedures and treatments. There are often ice baths, cryotherapy services and a number of treatment modalities that augment the service provided by the health professionals. These health professionals work with medical staff of the teams to assist the athletes. Sydney was the prototype for collaborative consultations between radiologists, team medical staff and athletes on injuries and imaging. This led to great Men holding canoe over heads
advances in understanding of radiology and even resulted in publication of a text of Sports Imaging (Atlas of Imaging in Sports Medicine, Jock Anderson and John Read). There is also a pharmacy service and famously a huge supply of condoms!

The “Olympic Family” refers to officials of the International Olympic Committee and also National Olympic committees who travel to the games. It is seen as part of the Local Organising Committee / Polyclinic role to service some of the longer standing health needs of the people especially from less developed countries.

The Local Organising Committee is also responsible for medical backup at training and competition venues depending on the risk profile and requirements of the sport. For example, boxing has a Ringside Doctor for all bouts. In other sports, Physiotherapists, sports trainers, first aid staff or paramedics may play the primary role

The LOC has liaison arrangements with hospitals and ambulance services for emergency requirements and higher level of services. Some sports such as FIFA (football) play a very hands-on role with medical services for their sport and so are another player of medical coverage and oversight.

Olympic-Swimmer Medical Services

NATIONAL OLYMPIC COMMITTEE MEDICAL SERVICES
Smaller teams and nations with limited (or no) medical services rely exclusively on the polyclinic and LOC medical services for support.

Larger teams, like Australia, provide medical care for their athletes and officials through a medical headquarters located in the Australian zone of the Olympic Village. This is a 24-hour service with doctors, nurses, physiotherapists, massage therapists and others sports medicine professionals. The medical team for Rio numbers 28. This can demand long hours (with Practitioners often not getting out of the Village to events), but is critical to the athletes. Occasionally, the medical staff will go to venues to provide extra medical support for athletes, especially those without dedicated team medical staff. Sometimes medical staff attached to sports or teams will use the headquarters facility to assess/treat their athletes and also augment the medical roster when their sport allows or is completed.

NATIONAL SPORTING ORGANISATION TEAM MEDICAL STAFF
Many of the teams have regular medical staff involved with their sport throughout the year, travelling to other events to provide their medical services or maintaining contact throughout their training. These are integrated within the National Olympic Committee but there are limited positions usually meaning this is restricted to the bigger sports such as swimming or athletics, or team sports like football or hockey. Often these are doctors and physiotherapists who crucially have a long history and familiarity with their athletes. Imagine in a diverse sport such as track and field the medical team required to cover athletes at training venues, the warm-up facility, main stadium or even on the roads for the marathon. Some teams also provide extra medical
staff at the pre-Olympic training camps who then return home for the games such as the athletics pre-Olympic camp in Florida.

Occasionally, individual athletes have their own travelling medical support, but this exists outside the village and needs special accreditation and approval.

As the Olympic Games is the pinnacle for athletes, it has similar appeal for Sports Medicine professionals. The challenge and satisfaction of assisting athletes achieve their dreams is rewarding, not forgetting the important support they have had in preparation. Some athletes won’t make it due to injury, others will compete with injury even when its not ideal from a medical perspective.

Olympic Park Sports Medicine Centre has proudly allowed its Sports Medicine practitioners to work in all of these roles at all summer Olympic Games since Seoul in 1988. Many of us were closely involved in the LOC medical services for Sydney 2000, and some carried the torch in recognition of their previous contributions. We proudly display photos of some of those involved on our OPSMC campus walls, so have a look next time you visit!

Congratulations to all the medical teams behind Rio 2016!