A Physician Heals Giants - and Olympic Swimmers

The New York Times Olympics Blog—LONDON—July 26, 2012

Scott Rodeo, the New York Giants’ team physician, normally would have been heading to Albany this week for Thursday’s opening of training camp. Instead he’s here ministering to U.S. Olympians as they get ready to compete in their version of the Super Bowl.

It’s a labor of love for Rodeo, an orthopedic surgeon at Hospital for Special Surgery in Manhattan who has served as the team physician for the U.S. Olympic swimming team since 2004. He was a competitive swimmer who specialized in the breaststroke and raced for Stanford as an undergraduate before attending medical school at Cornell.

“I do this because I got a lot out of the sport,” Rodeo said. “I just want to kind of give back to the sport. It’s an honor to be part of it.”

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“In the Super Bowl and in the Olympics, you’re dealing with athletes who have worked for many, many years to get there,” Rodeo said. “It’s the single-most-important competition of their lives, so the stakes are higher if they get injured or ill.” He added, “There’s definitely some psychology in how you talk to them, educate them. You want to help them stay positive because something like that totally impacts their emotional and mental sides.”

The article features Dr. Rodeo and his career history helping athletes. The piece is also prominently featured on the New York Times Olympics Blog homepage.

Read the full story at London2012.blogs.NYTimes.com.