Helping hand for Rio

With a Masters Degree in chiropractics, Dr Gary Smith was selected by the International Olympic Committee to work on their health service team during the Games.

Dr Smith’s final training on procedures for this big event starts in March, although he has already completed some training on Skype and online work.

“For me, this will be the culmination of a ­lifetime’s work,” Dr Smith said.

He will be among a top team of world class specialists chosen to ensure athletes are in prime condition.

And, just as importantly, their job is to detect possible injury points in the body to prevent health problems.

“This is about the chiropractic care in fine-tuning athletes with regard to injury-prevention – and ­nipping any injury problems in the bud.” Dr Smith said. 

A chiropractic expert for 19 years, Dr Smith has been based at East Maitland for the past nine years.

“In August 2014, the International Olympic Committee advertised for health professionals to work on their teams,” Dr Smith said.

“I applied and was told in December last year that I was on the team.

“They wanted to know if I spoke a language besides English and I do speak some Spanish.

“But of course Portuguese is the language of Brazil, so I am having Portuguese lessons now.”

During the Olympic Games from August 5 to 21 this year, Dr Smith will be based at a polyclinic at the Olympic Village in Rio and he hopes to know

the names of the athletes he will be working with shortly.

“I love South American culture and I have visited Chile, Columbia and Mexico, also having walked through the Andes Mountains, following the Inca trail to Machu Picchu in Peru,” Dr Smith said.

His advice to athletes and all sports people is to give their bodies sufficient time to cope with training demands.

“We don’t generally give our bodies enough time and athletes can get very frustrated,” he said.

“But we must set realistic goals.”