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Physical Therapy in Sport 12 (2011) 53–54

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Physical Therapy in Sport

journal homepage: www.elsevier .com/ptsp

Editorial

London 2012 – Are you ready?

On the 1st January 2011, there were 573 days to the OpeningCeremony of the Olympic Games and 606 days to the OpeningCeremony of the Paralympic Games in London in 2012.

Most of us are already anticipating the impact the OlympicGames will have on London and on the physiotherapy profession:for some this will be eager anticipation, for others it may be withsome apprehension, not knowing how the city and the professionwill cope with the potential increase in demand. If you are enthu-siastic about the Games coming to London, perhaps it’s becauseyou already work with a team or because you have applied to theGames Maker (volunteer) programme.

The physiotherapists who work at an Olympic Games fall intotwo categories:

� those who work on behalf of the organising committee, in thiscase the London Organising Committee of the Olympic Gamesand Paralympic Games (LOCOG): working in the Olympic VillagePolyclinic or at the competition and training venues, mainlytreating athletes from countries/teams that do not have suffi-cient, if any, physiotherapy support,

� those who work with a particular national team, e.g. Team GB,Team Canada

Considering the medical support which Team GB has developedover many years, it will be unusual if a physiotherapist working forLOCOG has much professional contact with any British athletesduring the Olympic Games.

Although it is London, rather than Great Britain and NorthernIreland, which will host the 2012 Olympic Games, the country ofthe host city normally has the opportunity to enter a number ofcompetitors in the majority of sports. This is not an absolutecertainty, Team GB may not take up all the “host nation” placesavailable if a competitor or team is very low in the world rankings,although in December of last year, Andy Hunt the Chief Executive ofthe British Olympic Association and Team GB Chef de Missionstated that “it is our aspiration to have the largest team in overa century representing Great Britain at home in London 2012”.

One of the prerequisites for Team GB’s Headquarters Physio-therapy Support Team for the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games wasprevious experience of working at a multi-sport Games. The lastopportunity for a large number of physiotherapists to gain thisexperience was working for the organising committee at the2002 Commonwealth Games in Manchester. London 2012 willprovide the next UK opportunity for physiotherapists, who wishto be involved in multi-sport events beyond 2012, to gain valuableexperience.

1466-853X/$ – see front matter � 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.doi:10.1016/j.ptsp.2011.03.002

The Association of Chartered Physiotherapists in Sports Medi-cine (ACPSM) provides a structured CPD programme and mostnational governing bodies of sport (NGBs) in the UK also havestructured career pathways to help less-experienced physiothera-pists to progress. Many of the chartered physiotherapists workingwith NGBs have postgraduate qualifications. The progression fromclub to county, regional and national age-group teams is nota quick process, unless the physiotherapist is very fortunate, butdoes ensure that by the time the physiotherapist reaches a majorevent s/he has the experiences to be able to cope with mosteventualities.

The Olympic Games and the Paralympic Games will providea tremendous opportunity to promote the role of physiotherapyand physiotherapists within the UK. This opportunity does notonly apply to the ACPSM and individual members working withinsport, but to all members across the profession who are involvedin promoting healthy active lifestyles to clients and the generalpublic. To start the ball rolling, the CSP held an information dayin 2009 for relevant personnel within each Clinical Interest Groupto update and discuss how best to use London 2012, and the 2014Commonwealth Games in Glasgow, to promote the professionthroughout the UK rather than just within Greater London. Afterall, there are several competition venues outside London includingBroxbourne, Eton Dorney, Weymouth and many of the footballvenues.

The Medical Services Department of LOCOG has seven ClinicalWorkstreams to give advice on clinical service provisionthroughout the Games: including the recruitment process foreach service. Physiotherapy along with chiropractic, osteopathyand sports massage are in the Physical Therapy Clinical Work-stream. The workstream has representatives from all four disci-plines, who also have experience of working at Olympic Games,Paralympic Games and World Championships. Although the post-Games Legacy was an important part of the London bid to theInternational Olympic Committee (IOC), LOCOG is not a deliveryservice for the Legacy. As LOCOG will cease to exist once theOlympic and Paralympic Games have finished, the responsibilityfor the Legacy has passed into the hands of the Government(Department of Culture, Media and Sport) and LOCOG will onlyprovide advice and act as a facilitator for the Legacy.

As you will be aware from recent publicity, all medical GamesMakers are to be interviewed prior to appointment and all appoint-ments will be for a minimum of 10 days. Successful applicants willhave experience of working with athletes, preferably withina training/competition environment and will be able to integratewell with athletes and support staff.

Editorial / Physical Therapy in Sport 12 (2011) 53–5454

The other important factor when appointing staff is how wellthey will work together. They must have skills which complementeach other and provide the broadest scope of treatment possible,whilst being able to copewith working in a high-pressure situation.Consider discussing (possibly through an interpreter) with anathlete who has trained for four years, the pros and cons of his/herinjury and the subsequent trauma which may result if s/hecontinues to compete.

In line with previous Olympic Games, none of the volunteermedical workforce will be paid or reimbursed for loss of earnings.They will be expected to fund their own accommodation and travelandwill notbeable toaccess trainingandcompetitionvenuesunlessthey are on thework rota for that particular venue at that time. Evenso, it is an opportunity not to be missed! To be part of the anticipa-tion and exhilaration of anOlympic Games and Paralympic Games isan honour, and for many physiotherapists will provide an addedimpetus to their progression along a career in sports physiotherapy.

From May of this year, LOCOG and the International SportsFederations will run “test events”, which will allow the competitionvenues to have a dry run at hosting an event. The events will vary instandard and size, including Olympic Qualifying competitions,international invitational events and national junior events. Thetest events will provide an additional opportunity for GamesMakers to become familiar with venues and sports.

In addition, many countries or individual sports teams maylook to base their training/preparation camps within the UKimmediately prior to the Games and possibly in the precedingyear. Preparation camps are often established as early as fourweeks prior to the Games commencing, to allow athletes to

recover from jet lag or travel fatigue and to have access to high-quality training facilities prior to entering the Olympic Village tocompete. Most of these preparation camps will be self-sufficient,but they may require additional local physiotherapy support.Currently several regions of the UK are putting together businessplans to encourage countries to base their camps in a particularregion.

Unfortunately, there will always be more suitable physiothera-pists than places available. Being unsuccessful in securing a placeat a major event should not be seen as a reflection of the physio-therapist’s ability. Physiotherapists selected to be Games Makersat the Olympic Games and Paralympic Games must grab everyopportunity available to them, without causing any issues or prob-lems for other members of staff or managers! Of course, there willbe challenges associated with maintaining professional standardsin a busy and demanding sporting environment, but physio-therapy Games Makers must use the experiences gained byworking at such a major sporting event to further their profes-sional development. Just as it is the ambition of many athletes tocompete in an Olympic Games, it will be an ambition of manyphysiotherapists to work at one. Everyone who has ever beeninvolved with Team GB or has worked at a multi-sport Gamesappreciates how fortunate they are.

Lynn Booth MSc MCSPClinical Lead - Physical Therapies

Medical ServicesLondon Organising Committee of the Olympic Games and

Paralympic Games