Nurses are Unsung Heroes at the Olympic Games

There is a lot of hype around Olympic athletes, and deservedly so. These athletes have trained nearly their entire lives for the chance to compete at the Olympic games. We love cheering them on and supporting them from afar, but what about those who support them through expert medical care to ensure they are in peak condition? This article focuses on the heroes behind the scenes who have helped make the dreams of these athletes possible — sports medicine nurses. 

Need for nurses in training

Sports medicine nurses help ensure that athletes are able to perform at their best by helping them recover from injuries as quickly as possible and without long-term negative impact. These nurses are crucial to an athlete’s training regimen in preventing, treating and recovering from injury. 

Sports medicine nurses access and treat: 

• Abrasions and lacerations
• Bone fractures 
• Dislocated joints
• Sprains and muscle strains
• Inflammation and fluid build up
• Mental health
• And more

Sports medicine nurses are also needed to help educate athletes in how to prevent injuries with knowledge of proper gear, warm up exercises, overall fitness plans, as well as diet and nutrition.

Need for nurses at the Paris 2024 games

Millions of people including: athletes, trainers, spectators, correspondents, and others have flocked to Paris to be a part of the 2024 Paris Olympic Games. With this temporary increase in the city's population, also comes the increased need for medical care. 

Parisian hospitals are rising to the challenge and staffing an additional 750 medical and paramedical staff members, compared to a normal summer, throughout the duration of the games. In order to achieve this level of medical care, the Assistance Publique-Hôspitaux de Paris announced it would pay bonuses to caregivers of 60 different medical services who offered to give you vacation time and be present during the Paris 2024 Olympic Games. These bonuses equate to up to $1,250 per week for nurses who agreed to delay vacation time and work during the games. 

The vacation time for Parisian nurses is not lost if they decide to take advantage of this bonus. Parisian hospitals are paying these bonuses and banking the vacation time in a “time savings account” for future use.  Parisian hospitals are showing that they understand and value the importance of their nurses and other medical staff when hosting an event like the games.

An Olympic First - Uniforms for Medical Staff

For the first time in history, the Team USA medical staff will have uniforms. This is the first time a medical team has ever been outfitted for any country during the Olympic games. Uniforms have been provided by Figs and really help show that the sports medicine nurses and other medical staff supporting our athletes are an important part of the overall team. 

Olympic athlete nurses 

Highlighted here are just a few of the current and recent Olympians who also work as nurses. These individuals know what it is to work hard by training outside of their work hours — often very early in the morning or after leaving a shift. 

Tiffany Ho

Ho graduated as a Registered Nurse in 2021, and she also worked to train for the Olympic games. Ho commented that her facility has been very supportive of her goals and is excited that she is representing Australia in women’s badminton singles. 

Joan Poh

Poh, a 30-year-old rower competing for Singapore in this year’s 2024 Paris Olympics and a proud dialysis nurse. She had decided to train full time as a rower in the hopes of competing in the Olympics but decided to return to her position as a nurse during the pandemic. She now works both in training as a world-class rower and as a nurse. 

Rebecca Smith

Smith graduated with a Bachelor of Science in Nursing degree in May 2024, and competed in the 2024 Paris Olympics for swimming this month. She competed in the 4x100 meter freestyle relay — an event she won a silver medal for Canada in at the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games. 

Vicky Wright

Wright had worked as a National Health Service nurse for 7 years. After foregoing many training sessions to work during the Covid-19 pandemic and experiencing the cancellation of the World Championships in 2020, she put her nursing career on a brief hold to compete in the Beijing 2022 Olympic games in curling. She helped bring home Great Britain’s only gold medal in those games! 

Getting the education you need

Whether training to compete or supporting those who do with medical care, nurses need flexibility and support when considering nursing bridge programs that can help them move to the next stage of their career. 

Achieve provides a flexible and supportive path through LPN to RN bridge programs, RN to BSN program, Paramedic to RN program and many more programs that can help nurses advance their career.