They are hardly recognised even after spending many hours in small rooms choking with liniment smell.
They are the unsung heroes and heroines of the games — the athletes’ doctors and physiotherapists. After great performances by athletes, they just fade into oblivion, awaiting another selection for another global competition.
The medics are, in rallying parlance, the technical crew. The ones who fix bolts and nuts.
Coaches get recognition because they are more visible, always clutching stopwatches and whistles around the pitch.
But the medics are far in the background, always in some tiny rooms behind the stadia.
If they are within the pitch, it is usually at an area few people are allowed into, and is fenced off from the general public.
In those small rooms, there is a pungent smell of various medicines. It is so strong that some people can easily be turned off while others, who have come closer, have thrown up.
But the medics have one clear duty; to ensure athletes are in super medical condition. They massage, muscle tone and offer more specialised treatment to the athletes such as physiotherapy, psychotherapy and neurotherapy.
Medical team
In the Kenyan camp The Standard meets the medics taking care of the country’s Olympics team in London.
Dr Julius Ogeto is the head of the medical team here in London. With him are other highly qualified specialists and practitioners with skill and credentials in various areas of medicine.
Dr Ogeto is trained for this particular assignment. He studied tropical medicine in Yamanasgi Genko University in Japan and sports medicine in Universityof Lagos.
Dr Daniel Langat studied medicine at the University of Nairobi and is currently undertaking a Masters degree course in Public Health. He is a division head at the ministry of Health headquarters. There is also Dr Victor Bargoria who is doing post-graduate course in orthopaedic surgery at the Moi Referral Hospital.
There are others too such as Kennedy Mogire who studied neurotherapy (dealing with head injuries) in India, Samwel Samoei and Peter Ndohiu who have a long experience in sports medicine.
Also in the medical staff but not travelling to London are physiotherapist Jessica Shiraku, former government chief physiotherapist Joan Orenda and Joseph Koli and Walter Mwashigadi. The team’s nutritionist and psychotherapist were also left behind.
Dr Ogeto says the specialists have been busy right from selection of the Olympics team to the end of the games.
“By nature, doctors are laid-back professionals who don’t seek much attention other than satisfying their patients. That is our satisfaction, not to shout for recognition,” says Ogeto.
But team officials agree that without a skilled medical staff, coaches would have nobody to take through the intervals or sparring sessions.
One athlete, who sought anonymity, suggested that instead of taking many officials for major games, some who just go for shopping, it would do the team a lot of good if more doctors and physiotherapists are included.
“These are the engineers and architects who plan the building of medal harvest,” said Peter Angwenyi, Team Kenya media liaison here.
Dr Ogeto was, since coming to Bristol for the pre-Olympics camp, assigned the weightlifting docket while Dr Langat handled boxers. Mogire took charge of swimming and Minoo looked after the athletes.
