MINSK, 8 February (BelTA) – Team Belarus medical staff at the Olympic Games 2018 in PyeongChang were commended by the IOC before the official opening of the games, BelTA learned from the press service of the National Olympic Committee.
According to the Director of the National Research Center of Sport and head of the Belarusian medical group at the Olympic Games 2018 Gennady Zagorodny, at a meeting held under the auspices of the IOC medical commission, Belarus was cited among the three dozen states recognized as the best at the Summer Olympic Games 2016 in Rio de Janeiro. Gennady Zagorodny said that the credit for this high praise goes to all medical staff who worked in Brazil. During this meeting the Belarusian representatives met with members of the IOC medical commission to discuss the inclusion of Belarus sports medicine in the IOC project for the study of injuries in sport and the provision of medical care during the European Games 2019. In this regard, Belarus will host representatives of the IOC Medical Commission in spring this year.
“Today six physicians and psychotherapists are monitoring the health of 26 Belarusian athletes in the main Olympic village in PyeongChang, and another two are deployed in the Olympic village in Gangneung where Belarus has five skaters and one short-track athletes,” Gennady Zagorodny said. In his opinion, a first-aid post in the Team Belarus headquarters meets the highest requirements. The medical personnel have sufficient resources and expertise to effectively monitor the health of athletes. “So far we have not received serious health complaints from anyone on the Belarusian team,” the head of the medical team said.
Commenting on the mass media reports on the viral infection that hit dozens of Winter Olympics staffers, Gennady Zagorodny advised against making a fuss about it because the situation is not serious. The IOC medical commission reported that as of 8 February 60 staffers who lived twenty kilometers away from the Olympic village were recognized as sick with the virus. Three athletes with the signs of norovirus have applied to the medical service of the Olympic village in PyeongChang. Gennady Zagorodny advised to exercise proper personal hygiene to avoid catching the virus.
