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Athletes, staff and the general public will be in good hands during the Olympic and Paralympic Games.
A team of 20 medics, researchers, graduates and students from the Centre for Sports Medicine in The University of Nottingham’s Division of Orthopaedic and Accident Surgery answered the medics call-up. They will be providing medical care and support during a host of events from equestrian to cycling — sailing to gymnastics.
Academic staff will be working as medics and helping with research into sports injury and illness. Many University of Nottingham graduates have gone on to work with elite sports organisations and will be on-hand providing a range of expertise from MRI scanning to physiotherapy and osteopathy.
Professor Mark Batt, Honorary Professor and Consultant in Sport and Exercise Medicine, said: “This is a fantastic opportunity for members of the Centre for Sports Medicine to get involved with the Olympic Games as well as demonstrate their skill and expertise. The strength of The Centre for Sports Medicine has been brought home by the depth of our multidisciplinary involvement.”
The 2012 Games are hosting 26 Olympic sports in 34 venues with 10,000 athletes and 20,000 press and media personnel. Over nine million spectator tickets have been sold. Sports medicine and emergency doctors will be needed at all the competition and training venues and medics can expect to answer tens of thousands of calls for help from athletes, staff and spectators.
The Nottingham team
Professor Batt, who is also the Wimbledon Sports Physician, has worked with The London Organising Committee for the Olympic Games (LOCOG) helping to oversee the medical arrangements for the Games. He will also be at Wimbledon looking after the players for Olympic tennis.
Dr Lisa Hodgson, University lecturer and deputy course director, who graduated from Nottingham with a Masters and PhD in Sport and Exercise Medicine will be at the Olympic Games from 1 July to 14 August as venue medical manager with particular responsibility for Horse Guards Parade (HGP). HGP is the venue for the volleyball tournaments with temporary seating for 15,000 spectators.
University teacher, Dr Clodagh Dugdale, will be based with the equestrian teams at Greenwich Park as well as the BMX cycling event between 28 July and 7 August.
Injury prevention is a key mandate for the International Olympic Committee (IOC) and Sports Medicine Research Fellow, Dr Debbie Palmer-Green, will be working on their Injury and Illness Surveillance programme.
Dr Jonathan Power, a second year part-time student, will be working as a field of play recovery team leader at the Aquatics Centre — the venue for the swimming, diving and synchronised swimming events.
Graduates on call
Dr Patrick Wheeler is among 15 Nottingham graduates offering medical support at the games. As Chief Medical Officer for British Triathlon he will be working with them at the Triathlon in Hyde Park. Dr Wheeler is also the Lead Doctor for Paralympics GB. He will be part of the team providing medical care to all the British Paralympic athletes at the Paralympic Games. In addition, he is the Chief Medical Officer for GB Disability Target Shooting.
Graduate, Dr Anyl Lloyd Gopeesingh, will be at the games in his capacity as team physician for Trinidad and Tobago. Their medal hopes lie in the track and field events — primarily men and women sprinters.
Head of Department, Professor Brigitte Scammell, said: “I am very proud of Nottingham’s contribution to the games. Our staff and graduates have major roles in sport throughout the UK and to have so many of them involved in the Olympics is a fantastic achievement.