Olympic Medicine

Author:
Publisher website
Google Scholar
Abstract
In July 1912, the Boston Medical and Surgical Journal celebrated “American Supremacy,” noting that the “overwhelming success of the American athletes at the current Olympic games in Stockholm is as interesting physiologically as it is nationally gratifying (1912; see Historical Journal Articles Cited) (see poster ). Although Sweden won the most medals, athletes from the United States won the gold medal count by the thinnest margin, 25 to 24. What accounted for their dominance? The large population of the United States “is more mixed of all races, and we should therefore be able to select the best strains and breed the best mixtures.” American athletes were “better nourished and conditioned” than their competition, “which again should conduce to racial physical superiority.” To top it off, “the intensity of our national disposition leads our athletes to train much more eagerly and consistently, and with a keener professional intentness for winning.” Though eugenic undertones have faded, physicians have maintained their interest in the Olympics. The strobe of the quadrennial competitions illuminates dramatic changes in medicine and sport.

This publication has 2 references indexed in Scilit: