At least 1 in 10 athletes injured, 1 in 14 fell ill during Vancouver Winter Olympics

LONDON - A research published in the British Journal of Sports Medicine has claimed that at least one in ten athletes sustained an injury and a further one in 14 fell ill during the 2010 Winter Olympics, held in Vancouver, Canada.

The data comes from the head doctors of 82 National Olympic Committees who monitored athletes’ health during the February 12-28 Vancouver Games, and from “Olympic clinics” at Vancouver and Whistler.

The doctors who monitored 2567 athletes reported a total of 287 injuries and 185 illnesses, equivalent to 111.8 injuries (11 percent) and 72.1 illnesses (7 percent) per 1000 registered athletes during the Games, the British Medical Journal claims.

The most dangerous sports were bobsleigh, ice hockey, short track, alpine freestyle and snowboard cross, which notched up injury rates of between 15 and 35 percent depending on the discipline.

The most common injury sites were the head, spine, and knees, which were almost as likely to be sustained during training (46 percent) as they were during competition (54 percent).

The injury rate was higher among women athletes (131.1/1000) than among the men (93.3/1000). Every fifth female athlete taking part in bobsleigh, ice hockey, snowboard cross and in freestyle cross and aerials sustained an injury.

Almost one in three men (just under 28 percent of registered male athletes) were injured during short track, while 17 percent were injured during bobsleigh, and just below 16 percent while playing ice hockey.

However, other monitoring systems have indicated that not all injuries were reported, prompting the authors to suggest that the figures might be higher. (ANI)