Physiotherapists part of capable and professional team

Physiotherapists form part of a team of 850 clinicians to provide the best possible service to Olympic athletes.

The team of carefully selected volunteers are there to provide help to any athlete who needs it – particularly from nations that have no medical or physiotherapy teams of their own.

All the volunteers must work a minimum of 10 days – but five are working for the whole duration of the Olympics and the Paralympics. Many are working at the three Olympic “polyclinics”, or small hospitals – one in the Olympic village in Stratford (athletics), one in Weymouth (sailing), and Egham (rowing). Here they work alongside doctors specialising in sports medicine, podiatrists, pharmacists, dentists and optometrists.

Other physiotherapists will be at all the competition venues and training facilities.

There will be 50 physiotherapists on duty each day in the Polyclinic at the main Olympic Village, 25 on each shift, and close to 100 others at the rowing and sailing polyclinics and training and competition venues. Most of the volunteers – known as Olympic Games Makers – come from the UK and Ireland, but around 5% are from other countries, some from as far afield as Australia and North America.

Lynn Booth, who was Head Physiotherapist for Team GB at the 1996, 2000 and 2004 Olympics, is the clinical lead for these services. All of the volunteers, she says, have been recruited according to merit, not where they come from – with physiotherapists interviewed by professional colleagues who know their field back-to-front. And all have been subject to intensive training in the run-up to the Olympics.


Information from The World Confederation for Physical Therapy (WCPT).