International Olympic Committee Medical Commission Research Articles

First International Olympic Committee World Congress on Sports Sciences

The International Olympic Committee Medical Commission will conduct the First IOC World Congress on Sports Sciences at the Broadmoor Hotel, Colorado Springs, Colorado, October 29-November 3, 1989.

International Olympic Committee Medical Commission’s Policies and programs in nutrition and physical fitness

It is a great honor and pleasure for me to convey to you the greetings ofthe International Olympic Committee (IOC) and to tell you about the ideas and intentions of the Medical Commission of IOC regarding the question of sports and nutrition. The IOC is very grateful to the organizers for having raised the issue of nutrition, which is so relevant to sports, and for discussing it here at this traditional sports venue. Sports, in particular competition sports, put such high demands on people that all ways and means supplementing physical training must be fully and consistently utilized to preserve health and improve psychosomatic fitness. The right diet is a decisive factor and I have been studying the role of nutrition in sports for over 40 y. My experiences gained at 1919 Olympic games as attending physician of the Austrian Olympic team and as a member ofthe Medical Commission have been especially useful to me in this respect. Again and again I have seen a minor, seemingly negligible mistake in the diet ruin many months and years of hard training at the critical moment.

The U.S. Olympic Committee experience with exercise-induced bronchospasm, 1984.

Exercise-induced bronchospasm is a medical deterrent to an athlete's natural ability to perform. The U.S. Olympic Committee has met the challenge of recognizing and dealing with this common yet unappreciated medical complication aggravated by athletic exertion. Prior to the 1984 Los Angeles Olympic Games the U.S. Olympic Committee developed a screening program to identify members of its Olympic team who suffered from asthma or exercise-induced bronchospasm. The screening identified 67 of 597 Olympic athletes with asthma or exercise-induced bronchospasm. Coordination of medical care by contact between members of the American Academy of Allergy and Immunology, the U.S. Olympic Committee Chief Medical Officer, the athlete's personal physician, and the athlete was done. Medications approved for use in these conditions by the International Olympic Committee Medical Commission policies were prescribed. Forty-one medals were won by this group of handicapped athletes. Their example will raise the hopes and aspirations of countless young allergic and asthmatic children who dream of the thrills and health benefits of physical performance at almost any level of competition.