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Injury Risk in the Olympic Games

The Injury and Illness Surveillance During the XXIX 2008 Summer and the XXI 2010 Winter Olympic Games

  • Chapter
Nuclear Medicine and Radiologic Imaging in Sports Injuries

Abstract

The protection of an athlete’s health is an important task for the International Olympic Committee (IOC). Systematic injury and illness surveillance monitors trends over long periods of time, and the identification of high-risk sports, including their most common and severe injuries and illnesses, provides valuable knowledge to reduce the risk of occurrence. During the XXIX Summer Beijing 2008 and XXI Winter Games Vancouver 2010, comprehensive recording of injuries and illnesses through the medical staff of the participating National Olympic Committees and the sports medicine clinics at the different Olympic venues revealed that at least 7–11 % of all athletes incurred an injury or suffered at least from one illness occurrence during the Games. The incidence of injuries and illnesses varied substantially between sports. In the future, risk factor and video analyses of injury mechanisms in high-risk Olympic sports are essential to better direct injury prevention strategies. Monitoring the athlete’s health during the pre-Game period through periodic health exams will be important to optimize health protection.

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Acknowledgments

The research group wishes to acknowledge sincere gratefulness to the President of the IOC Medical Commission, Professor Arne Ljungqvist, and to NOCs and IFs for their strong support for these studies. We gratefully acknowledge the International Olympic Committee (IOC) for funding these studies. We also like to give credit to F-MARC for initiating the systematic assessment of the injuries from 1998.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Sports Medicine, Oslo Sports Trauma Research Center, Norwegian School of Sport Sciences, Ullevål Stadion, Pb 4014, Oslo, 0806, Norway

    Lars Engebretsen & Kathrin Steffen

  2. Medical & Scientific Department, The International Olympic Committee, Lausanne, Switzerland

    Lars Engebretsen, Kathrin Steffen & Torbjørn Soligard

  3. Faculty of Medicine, Department of Orthopedic Surgery, Oslo University, Oslo, Norway

    Lars Engebretsen

Authors
  1. Lars Engebretsen
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  2. Kathrin Steffen
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  3. Torbjørn Soligard
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Lars Engebretsen .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Nuclear Medicine and Molecular Imaging, University of Groningen, University Medical Center Groningen, Groningen, The Netherlands

    Andor W.J.M. Glaudemans

  2. Department of Nuclear Medicine and Molecular Imaging, University of Groningen, University Medical Center Groningen, Groningen, The Netherlands

    Rudi A.J.O. Dierckx

  3. Department of Radiology, Antwerp University Hospital, Edegem, Belgium

    Jan L.M.A. Gielen

  4. Exercise and Health, Center for Sports Medicine, University Center for Sport, University of Groningen, University Medical Center Groningen, Groningen, The Netherlands

    Johannes (Hans) Zwerver

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© 2015 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg

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Engebretsen, L., Steffen, K., Soligard, T. (2015). Injury Risk in the Olympic Games. In: Glaudemans, A., Dierckx, R., Gielen, J., Zwerver, J. (eds) Nuclear Medicine and Radiologic Imaging in Sports Injuries. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-662-46491-5_51

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-662-46491-5_51

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-662-46490-8

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-662-46491-5

  • eBook Packages: MedicineMedicine (R0)

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