Introduction
The Olympic Games are the largest sporting events in the world, with typically around 10 000 athletes competing during Summer Games and 3000 athletes competing during Winter Games.1 While slightly smaller in scope, the Paralympic Games are also among the largest mass-sporting events in the world, with a total of around 4500 athletes competing between the Summer and Winer Games.2 Working behind the scenes of these thousands of athletes are tens of thousands of staff and volunteers who work to support the athletes and Games. As an example, while just over 11 000 athletes competed in the Tokyo 2020 Summer Olympic Games, there were reported to be between 70 000 and 80 000 staff, volunteers, and contractors working at the Games.3 4 During the Olympic and Paralympic Games periods, staff members play an essential role in supporting athletes and are critical in the positive representation of a national delegation overall. Members of a delegation are typically selected based on their skills and ability to support their delegation’s athletes and are provided access to necessary resources, such as medical care, when indicated. Epidemiological studies reporting illness and injury rates incurred by athletes at large-scale sporting competitions, such as the Olympic and Paralympic Games, have been extensively reported.1–13 However, despite prior studies indicating that workforce staff make up a notable portion (5.1% to 61.8%) of those requiring medical care,14–19 there is presently no research focusing on injuries and illnesses sustained by staff members from a single delegation.
In general, medical coverage goals include the provision of first aid to athletes, advanced medical support and stabilisation for individuals requiring urgent or emergent transfer to a higher level of care, and triage to avoid overwhelming local emergency medical services and facilities.20–24 There have been multiple studies that have developed various strategies for estimation of medical needs at sporting events that not only have many participants but also draw large volumes of spectators.23 25–28 Each of these requires knowledge of utilisation needs in previous iterations of such an event.18 21 23 26–28 However, while these studies have focused on mass-spectator events, none have examined the Olympic and Paralympic Games, the largest mass-spectator events in the world. Also, none have specifically examined healthcare utilisation among the staff supporting the Games. As such, reviewing and reporting healthcare utilisation among staff from the Tokyo 2020 Olympic and Paralympic Games (Tokyo 2020 Games) and Beijing 2022 Olympic and Paralympic Games (Beijing 2022 Games) is critical to successfully prepare for future Games.
During large-scale events, it is important to appropriately provide medical care to the highest degree possible so as to not overwhelm local medical systems.29–31 Within the setting of Olympic and Paralympic Games periods, this requires a nation to be prepared to provide medical care not only to their delegation’s athletes but also their staff. Understanding prior healthcare resource utilisation to make informed predictions about a delegation’s medical needs is integral to success in that endeavour.18 21 23 26–28 While data on healthcare utilisation among the entire delegation of staff supporting a Games would be ideal, that data are not currently collected across all national delegations or by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) or International Paralympic Committee (IPC). Therefore, single delegation data on this topic, especially from one of the largest and most diverse athlete/staff delegations (Team USA), serves as an important starting point to determine healthcare utilisation needs during Olympic and Paralympic Game periods. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to report epidemiological data regarding injury and illness among the Team USA staff during the Tokyo 2020 Games and Beijing 2022 Games.