Sports injuries and illnesses at the Lausanne 2020 Youth Olympic Winter Games: a prospective study of 1783 athletes from 79 countries

Abstract

ObjectiveTo describe the injury and illness characteristics among participating athletes during the Lausanne 2020 Youth Olympic Winter Games (YOG 2020), 9–22 January 2020.MethodsThe daily number of athlete injuries and illnesses were recorded (1) through the reporting of all National Olympic Committee (NOC) medical teams and (2) in the polyclinic and medical venues by the Lausanne 2020 medical staff.ResultsIn total, 1783 athletes from 79 NOCs were observed. NOC and Lausanne 2020 medical staff reported 228 injuries and 167 illnesses, equating 11.7 injuries and 8.6 illnesses per 100 athletes over the 14-day period. Injury incidence was highest for snowboard slopestyle (39%), bobsleigh (36%), snowboard big air (29%), ski slopestyle (29%), snowboard cross (24%) and ski cross (21%), and lowest for speed skating, snowboard halfpipe and curling (2%–4%). The highest incidence of illness was recorded for curling (21%), ski mountaineering (15%), snowboard halfpipe (13%), bobsleigh (11%), cross-country skiing (10%) and figure skating (10%). Almost one-third of injuries were expected to result in time loss and 17% of illnesses. Most injuries occurred to the knee (12%) and head (11%), and 64% of illnesses affected the respiratory system. Overall, women suffered more injuries and illness than males.ConclusionOverall, injury and illness rates were similar compared with recent YOG. While the rate and characteristics of injury and illness varied between sports, consistent patterns across YOG are emerging. If addressed, changes in highlighted areas of risk could have a positive impact on the health and well-being of these young athletes.

Analysis on the Educational Value of Winter Olympic Spirit in Track and Field Teaching Based on Data Mining under Artificial Intelligence

“…The knowledge finally found can be used for information management, query optimization, decision support, and data maintenance. For example, by analyzing the courses selected by students, we can understand which aspects of course learning students are more inclined to learn, so as to provide reference for course development [10]. Rule mining technology refers to extracting hidden, potential, previously unknown, and useful knowledge and rules from databases.…”

Ski Mountaineering: Perspectives on a Novel Sport to Be Introduced at the 2026 Winter Olympic Games

“…Moreover, unlike with alpine skiing ( Supej et al, 2013 ), aerodynamic drag apparently exerts little influence on the downhill performance of ski mountaineers. Even though ski mountaineers sometimes reduce control, even on challenging descents, to lessen muscle fatigue ( Gilgien et al, 2018b ; Supej et al, 2018 ; Supej and Holmberg, 2019 ), the incidence of injuries in connection with this sport is relatively low compared to other winter sports ( Palmer et al, 2021 ).…”

Health problems in national team cross-country skiers over a competitive season: a 17-week prospective cohort study

“…[9][10][11][12][13][14] The proportions of XC skiing injuries appear similar between the OWG and WYOG (~5.4% vs ~5.1%, respectively) and between women and men (~5.9% vs ~5.0%, respectively). [9][10][11][12][13][14] Previous long-term studies (lasting ~1 year) have reported injury incidence rates in welltrained competitive and World Cup XC skiers of between 2.1 and 3.8 injuries per 1000 exposure hours, 5 15 16 and 11.4 injuries per 100 athletes per season, 17 respectively. Injuries to the lower extremities and lower back appear most common.…”