Summer may be behind us, but for ACA member Tamara Lovelace, DC, DACBSP, ICCSP, CKTP, of Portsmouth, Ore., her summer memories won’t fade any time soon. Dr. Lovelace had the honor of serving Team USA at the Paris Olympics. The ACA Blog caught up with her recently to learn more about her memorable experience treating some of the world’s best athletes in one of the world’s most beautiful cities.
Q: Was this your first time at the Olympics?
Dr. Lovelace: This was my third Olympic Games and my fourth Major Games. Prior to the Paris 2024 Olympic Games, I served at the Tokyo 2020(1) Summer Olympics, the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics, and the Santiago 2023 Pan American Games. For the Paris and Tokyo Summer Olympics, I served as the team doctor for Team USA’s cycling delegation; for the Pan American Games in Santiago, Chile, I served as the medical lead for Team USA’s cycling delegation; and at the Beijing Winter Olympics, I served as the chiropractor for the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committee’s (USOPC) medical team in the Beijing Olympic Village.
Q: How long have you worked with USOPC?
Dr. Lovelace: I have volunteered with USOPC since 2011. I have done multiple volunteer rotations at the USOPC training centers, serving in both the Colorado Springs and Lake Placid training centers.
Q: Where were you stationed at the Games in Paris?
Dr. Lovelace: I was stationed in Paris, splitting time between the Olympic Village and the off-site hotel near the velodrome that USA Cycling used as their base of operations. I was there as the team doctor for the cycling delegation for Team USA, so my focus was on the cyclists in their various disciplines, including BMX Freestyle, BMX Racing, Road, Track, and Mountain Bike.
Q: Can you give us an idea of what a day was like?
Dr. Lovelace: My days in Paris were pretty busy, as the various cycling disciplines overlapped in their training and competition schedules. This meant that on a given day I would wake up early, around 6 a.m., so that I could be on site for training or competition for one cycling discipline. I would then have to drive to another venue to cover another cycling discipline’s training or competition. Then I would head back to the Olympic Village or our offsite hotel to take care of athlete treatments to ensure that all our athletes were in peak condition for their upcoming competitions, finishing my day around midnight.
With Cycling, we have a medical team that includes a team of soigneurs [translated as “caretakers”] who do the majority of soft tissue treatments for the cyclists and manage their nutrition and hydration. In addition to doing my own treatments with athletes, I would oversee the treatments the athletes received from our soigneurs and be a resource for them should something arise that needed additional attention.
Q: What other types of providers did you work alongside?
Dr. Lovelace: The medical team for USA Cycling consists of myself and our CMO, Dr. Michael Roshon, along with a team of soigneurs who are typically licensed massage therapists, athletic trainers, or physical therapists. We also lean on the USOPC and their medical resources when needed, working with their medical doctors, chiropractors, physical therapists, athletic trainers, massage therapists, nutritionists, and mental health counselors.
Q: What was most challenging about your experience?
Dr. Lovelace: In comparison to prior Olympic Games, this one did not have many significant challenges. In Tokyo, in addition to being our delegation’s team doctor, I was the COVID liaison officer for our delegation. This made my already busy days a lot busier, as I was responsible for collecting all of the daily COVID tests from our delegation and turning them in to the local organizing committee to ensure that our athletes would be permitted to continue to compete. Plus, in both Beijing and Tokyo, the threat of COVID prevented fans from attending along with the friends and family of the athletes, which lead to a lot of stress and strain on those in attendance.
For the Paris Olympic Games, I would say that my biggest challenge was remembering to take pictures to document the experience. Once I got home, I realized that I had done a great job of “being in the moment” and savoring the energy of the fans and the experience as a whole, but I did not do a very good job of taking pictures to document the experience!
Q: What is your favorite memory of the Games?
Dr. Lovelace: The Paris Olympic Games were truly amazing, and I don’t know that I could pick one favorite memory if I tried. The whole experience was an absolute dream come true! After two Olympic Games overshadowed by COVID, the Olympic Games in Paris were truly a celebration! The fans were amazing, the athletes were energized by the supportive cheers from the crowds, and all of it played out with some of the most iconic structures (the Eiffel Tower, the Arc de Triomphe, etc.) in the background!
I guess the memory that stands out to me most would be our first day of BMX Freestyle practice. I was standing on the side of the course watching practice, the sun was shining, and it was warm but not too hot. The stands were full of cheering fans (and this was for practice!). The Luxor Obelisk at Place de la Concorde was just next to the course on one side and the Eiffel Tower was in the background on the other, and the athletes were smiling and having fun at practice. The energy was amazing! This was a celebration of sport, bringing together people from all over to celebrate the amazing feats that the human body can perform! This was the Olympics that I had always dreamed of being a part of!
Q: What did you learn, as a chiropractor, from your experiences at the Paris Games?
Dr. Lovelace: From my experiences at the Paris 2024 Olympics, as well as at the Tokyo and Beijing Olympic Games, I learned how valuable chiropractic care is to the performance of these amazing athletes. As chiropractors we can help get an injured athlete back in the competition and can help improve the performance of those that are not injured, optimizing the performance outcomes of the entire team.
Q: What is your advice to others who would love to treat athletes at the Olympics?
Dr. Lovelace: My advice to others who want the opportunity to work at an Olympic Games one day is to get involved. Volunteer to help out at any and every opportunity you can. Volunteer to be the team doctor for your local high school. Volunteer for sporting events that come to your town. Volunteer to do a rotation at one of the USOPC training centers. These opportunities open doors that lead to bigger opportunities.
And in each of these opportunities, remember a couple key points: Leave your ego at home. Be humble. Work as part of a team and remember that working as part of the medical team supporting a team or event means that the needs of the team come first. Don’t be too important to do even the smallest task. Learn from those around you. And most important, remember that it is not about you, it’s about the team or the athlete and we are just there to support them.
Q: What’s next for you?
Dr. Lovelace: As this past Olympiad was a short one—only three years since the Tokyo Games rather than the usual four—I have several athletes that will need to have injuries addressed in a more complete manner than we were able to do leading up to Paris. This means that we will need to assess the current status of those injuries and put together rehab plans or plan for surgery to fix issues that need more than simply rehab. After that, we start back into our World Cup and World Championship competition season in a few short months. As far as future Olympics go, I would love to be a part of the LA 2028 Summer Olympic Games. For USA Cycling, the Paris 2024 Olympics brought us a record-breaking number of medals, and an Olympics on home soil in four years sounds like it might be a recipe for another memorable experience!
Editor’s Note: ACA member Dr. Jordan Knowlton-Key participated in the Paris Paralympic Games. The ACA Blog interviewed him as he was preparing for his trip to Paris. Read more.
