May 10, 2011British Journal of Sports Medicine16 citationsOpen Access
The IOC's endeavour to protect the health of the athlete continues
Key Result
The IOC has initiated a Health, Safety and Security survey and injury surveillance systems to identify risk factors and facilitate tailored measures to prevent injuries and illnesses in Olympic athletes.
Structured PICO
P
Population
Olympic athletes
I
Intervention
Health, Safety and Security (HSS) survey and injury/illness surveillance systems
The IOC continues to develop programs, including surveys and surveillance systems, to protect the health and safety of Olympic athletes.
Abstract
After the 2010 Olympic Games in Vancouver, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) has initiated a new project together with the International Olympic Sports Federations (IFs) and the National Olympic Committees (NOC). The aim of the Health, Safety and Security (HSS) survey was to identify and, in turn, eliminate risk factors which could potentially be harmful for the Olympic athletes. Each Federation shared their data on, athletes' risk exposure, technical development and equipment evolution, venue safety procedures, rule change mechanisms and determination of athlete eligibility. The IOC and the IFs are optimistic that this survey will not only increase the awareness on injury prevention, but also facilitate the introduction of tailored measures to prevent injuries and illnesses in each sport and discipline. With this objective in mind, the IOC have during recent years developed several new programmes.1 The injury and illness surveillance system, developed in cooperation with IFs and NOCs, was implemented with success in the 2008 Beijing (injury surveillance only)2 and in the 2010 Vancouver Olympics,3 and will be further developed in the 2012 London and 2014 Sochii Olympics. Based on a consensus meeting on Periodic Health Exams (PHE),4 the IOC is developing an Electronic …