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U Named National Olympic Medical Center

Andrea Smardon
/
KUER
University of Utah President David Pershing introduces a panel of US Olympic Committee officials, local leaders and Olympic athletes.

The U.S. Olympic Committee has added the University of Utah to its National Medical Network to support elite U.S. athletes. It’s the third medical center to join the network and the only academic institution in this role.

The press conference began with a video of dramatic moments of victory for US Olympic athletes. Freestyle skier Shannon Bahrke had a moment like that when she won the silver medal in moguls at the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City.

“What people don’t see is when you’re injured, when you blow out your knee and you’re lying in the middle of the snow, crying… and that moment of getting back on the podium, it seems like Mt. Everest, and you’re in Death Valley,” Bahrke says.

After three knee surgeries, shoulder surgery, foot surgery, a broken jaw and a couple back injuries, Bahrke says she couldn’t do it without the medical experts. “It’s those people that are behind the scenes that put us back together and give us the skills and everything to get us back onto the mountain so that we can compete our best.”

As a part of the National Medical Network, University of Utah Health Care will now be providing that care to elite Olympic athletes, specializing in orthopedic and physical medicine, primary care, dentistry, ophthalmology and neurosurgery. Alan Ashley is Chief of Sports Performance for the US Olympic Committee.

“The history of Utah in terms of performance and support for athletes is amazing,” Ashley says. “There are many legends in this room right now, and they’ll be many legends to come based upon the investment and really the passion that this state brings to the movement, and that the University of Utah brings to our partnership.”

The partnership also extends to research and education. The David Eccles School of Business will educate Team USA athletes. And the University is currently heading up an effort to advise the US Olympic Committee about the risk of infectious disease at the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro.

The partnership also extends to research and education. The David Eccles School of Business will educate Team USA athletes. And the University is currently heading up an effort to advise the US Olympic Committee about the risk of infectious disease at the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro.

Andrea Smardon is new at KUER, but she has worked in public broadcasting for more than a decade. Most recently, she worked as a reporter and news announcer for WGBH radio. While in Boston, she produced stories for Morning Edition, Marketplace Money, and The World. Her print work was published in The Boston Globe and Boston.com. Prior to that, she worked at Seattleââ
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