More physician involvement in future Olympic programs

Abstract

As the 1980 Olympics approach, some medical preparations already are under way for the 1984 Games. The Olympics no longer can be a quadrennial affair, says Irving I. Dardik, MD, chairman of the Council on Sports Medicine for the US Olympic Committee. Instead of waiting until shortly before the 1984 games to begin another Olympic medical support effort, we are planning a continuing program over the intervening years, involving more physicians than ever before, to benefit American athletes generally. Two days after the close of the Winter Games, Dardik will help direct the first Olympic Sports Medicine Conference (Feb 26 through 29) in Boston. There some of the medical plans for the 1984 games will be discussed with attending physicians, some of whom will have been at the Lake Placid, NY, games. In the meantime, the US Olympic Committee has established an athletic training and research center on a 50-acre