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THE MEDICAL COMMISSION

HISTORY AND MISSION OF THE MEDICAL COMMISSION


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The Medical Commission was created in 1967 in order to deal with the increasing problem of doping in the sports world. The initial goal of putting in place an anti-doping structure was rapidly widened to encompass the following three fundamental principals:

- Protection of the health of athletes.
- Respect for both medical and sport ethics.
- Equality for all competing athletes.

For more than 40 years, the IOC Medical Commission has worked in the anti-doping field, studying alternative methods to help athletes. These alternatives consist of sport medicine, biomechanics, physiology applied to sports, nutrition and all the other sciences linked to sports.

Since the creation of the World Anti-Doping Agency, the scope of the IOC Medical Commission has expanded.

In addition to the ongoing fight against doping which remains one of its main tasks both as representative of the IOC in WADA committees and during the Olympic Games, the IOC Medical Commission mission is to be the body which will address all of the main medical issues which may occur in sports.

The IOC Medical Commission will facilitate consensus meetings on all of the above-mentioned issues whilst giving priority to the protection of the health of anyone practising sport at any level.

THE OLYMPIC MOVEMENT MEDICAL CODE

Protect, Respect, and Equality

Discover the basic rules regarding best medical practices in the domain of sport and the safeguarding of the rights and health of the athletes.

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NEWS ABOUT THE MEDICAL COMMISSION

5 May 2008

IOC expert group publishes consensus statement on knee injury

Non-contact anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) injury is a serious knee injury which affects young women in much higher numbers than young men, especially in sports like basketball, netball and team handball. A group of physicians,...
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NOCs discuss air quality in Beijing (8 April 2008)
IOC analyses Beijing air quality data (17 March 2008)
Findings of Expert Panel on musculoskeletal injuries (26 February 2007)
IOC disciplinary commission calls for first round of hearings (9 February 2007)
IOC adopts Consensus Statement on sexual harassment and abuse in sport (8 February 2007)

PERMANENT FILES

9 November 2005

IOC Consensus Statement on the Female Athlete Triad

Protecting the health of the athlete is the primary goal of the International Olympic Committee’s Medical Commission (IOC MC). While athletes should be encouraged to strive for excellence, there is an obligation on the part of...
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17 May 2004

IOC approves consensus with regard to athletes who have changed sex

The Executive Board of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) today approved the consensus proposed by the IOC Medical Commission stating the conditions to be respected for a person who has changed sex to compete in sports...
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© IOC4 March 2004

Nutritional Supplements

Since 1997, the IOC Medical Commission has been concerned about positive results that could be linked to the use of nutritional supplements. The present lack of regulation concerning these in certain countries, including the USA, has...
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1 March 2004

Encyclopaedia and Handbooks of sports medicine

The IOC Medical Commission has been publishing the Encyclopedia of Sports Medicine in collaboration with Blackwell Publishing, Ltd. (Oxford, England) since 1988. Each volume of the Encyclopedia includes up-to-date and state-of-the-art...
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