Doctors safeguard Olympic slopes with skis at the ready

After years of training, the elite ski doctors of the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics are now ready for any medical emergencies that may arise in the Alpine skiing competition of the Games.

"The entire team is ready for all possible situations at the upcoming Alpine skiing competition of the Beijing Winter Olympics, and we have been through comprehensive training," said Guo Qi, deputy medical officer of the Alpine Skiing Medical Team and a traumatologist at Beijing Jishuitan Hospital, during an online media conference on Saturday.

Alpine skiing embodies speed and difficulty, as competitors regularly reach speeds of up to 152 kilometers per hour while navigating a winding course full of sharp turns and soaring jumps.

The Alpine competition is considered one of the most physically demanding sports in the Winter Olympics, so the possibility of injury is also very high.

Guo told media all ski doctors need to have both medical abilities and skiing skills to rapidly respond to any emergencies. It takes them years to train and prepare.

"We need to keep a close eye on the moves of the skiers and know how they could be injured during competitions. For example, despite skiers wearing protection equipment, they could still injure their head or face if accidents happen," Guo said.

"The Beijing 2022 Organizing Committee has been offering huge support to the establishment of the Alpine skiing medical team. Since 2018, we have been selecting doctors who can ski from across Beijing. Then we organized tests and asked them if they would like to join the team.

"Those who qualified then received professional skiing and specialized medical training. Our doctors are from different backgrounds, and we need to know how to deal with medical emergencies on the slopes."

Guo said they also required language training, as doctors need to be able to communicate with international athletes.

According to the National Alpine Ski Centre, there are 30 members of the medical team, and all of them boast more than six years of skiing experience. During the competition, they will be on duty 24 hours a day to deal with all possible situations.

As normal doctors do not have skiing experience, they are not able to offer help to injured skiers on the slopes. After quick treatment on-site, ski doctors would need to quickly transfer injured athletes to nearby medical stations or hospitals. If needed, the ski doctors could request helicopters to help the athletes.

"Apart from offering help to injured athletes, we also need to guarantee the smoothness of the competition. We need to deal with emergencies as quickly as possible to allow the competition to continue," Guo said.