While most of us are excited to watch the upcoming Paris Olympic Games as fans from the comfort of our couches, one CAR member will travel to France to take part in providing care for the world’s greatest athletes. Dr. Bruce Forster will make the journey overseas as part of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) medical team.
The games don’t start until July, but planning for the event has been ongoing and is ramping up as the opening ceremonies loom.
“I just returned from an IOC meeting in Monaco,” said Dr. Forster, “during which we were given an update on all medical aspects of the Games. The Paris 2024 Organizing Committee has done an excellent job preparing, including the radiologists in charge of the Polyclinic: Drs. Jerome Renoux and Michel Crema. Two 1.5T MRI units have been chosen, as have three high-end ultrasound machines and one radiography unit. There will be around 30 technologists and 30 radiologist volunteers from all over France.”
Dr. Forster has been involved in large-scale sporting events before, having served on the medical team in Vancouver 2010, at the 2020 summer games in Tokyo, and at the 2022 winter games in Beijing. While each edition of the Olympics has some of the same medical requirements, each city and venues have their own nuances.
“Paris 2024 is like other Olympics in that the Polyclinic is the hub for imaging and athlete care. We will again provide field of play ultrasound as we did in Vancouver 2010 and Tokyo 2020, at the Stade de France – the rugby venue,” said Dr. Forster. “It is different in that there will be a portable CT at the BMX venue, as this relatively new event is associated with higher injury risk. In addition, the new World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) rules will markedly decrease the number of imaging guided injections. Based on previous summer Olympics, we expect to do around 1000 imaging examinations and, as usual, imaging will play a critical role in athlete care. Also, this will be the first Olympics to have athlete gender balance and will be the greenest Olympics ever in terms of a reduced carbon footprint.”
Dr. Forster’s work will begin well before the athletes begin competing. He will be in Paris from July 16 to August 12 to provide enough time for the Games Group team to complete their final inspections of the Polyclinic and the near two-dozen medical venues.
The Olympics are a large and complex undertaking from a medical standpoint, but Dr. Forster notes that the technology and techniques used are reminiscent of working with Canadian patients who are not necessarily Olympic level athletes.
A great gathering of #paris2024 Olympics experts and #IOC Games Group experts in planning optimization of athlete health for the upcoming Games. @margomountjoy @E_C_S_S @CARadiologists @RoaldBahr pic.twitter.com/kOGfrxEBjN
— Bruce Forster (@brucebforster) July 4, 2023
“Virtually all the work we do at the Olympics directly translates to care of amateur, elite amateur, and professional athletes,” he pointed out. “Imaging is a major topic of research at every Games. Our goal is to make sport safer for all participants and help athletes at all levels enjoy physical activity and achieve their personal best.”
Congratulations to Dr. Forster on once again being a part of the cutting-edge medical team that keeps athletes safe and in peak performance!