OTE associate editor oversaw function of medical services at the Olympic Games
An IOC research group, including Per Renström, MD, PhD, also collected data on sports injuries.
As a member of the International Olympic Committee Medical Commission Games Group, Per Renström, MD, PhD, coordinates the medical services for the worlds top athletes.
Since 2002, Renström has been responsible for overseeing the function of medical services for athletes during both the Summer and Winter Olympic Games as part of the Games Group.
My job is [involved with] communications during the games to talk to people, find out the problems they have and then solve them, he told Orthopaedics Today Europe. I do not really do medical work during the games. I make sure that the medical service works.
|
Medical services
His duties included daily meetings with the local organizers, overseeing the medical service stations at every venue and managing the function of the Olympic Polyclinic, a hospital inside the Olympic Village. He also served as the contact person for the medical teams of every national Olympic committee and worked to ensure that each team had the facilities and equipment that they required.
From an organizational point of view, the games in China were probably the best games ever, said Renström, an associate editor for Orthopaedics Today Europe. [Everything] functioned fantastically.
He noted that 3,000 people were involved in the medical service in Beijing. The polyclinic, which offered services for 25,000 people living in the Olympic Village and 11,000 athletes, accommodated 10,000 medical visits. The medical service stations at the sport venues handled more than 10,000 cases, Renström said.
It was busy, but the Chinese did a great job with it. [As] a whole, it functioned well and I think the athletes and the coaches were very happy with the service, he said.
Research
In addition to coordinating medical services for the athletes, Renström also conducts sports injury research during the games as part of an International Olympic Committee (IOC) research group. Prior to the 2000 Summer Olympic Games in Sydney, investigators performed biomechanical studies using data from the competitions. Since then, the focus has shifted to injury prevention, Renström said.
For more information:
- Per Renström, MD, PhD, is a professor emeritus at the Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden, and is an associate editor of Orthopaedics Today Europe. He can be reached at Flötviksvägen 51, 16572 Hässelby, Sweden; +46-8-380081; e-mail: per.renstrom@telia.com.