Olympic Massage

Hello all,

Benny Vaughn here.  I just spent 13 days in beautiful Eugene, Oregon, for the 2008 Olympic Team Trials to select the Track and Field athletes that will represent the USA in Beijing, China. We are exactly four weeks from Opening Ceremonies in Beijing.  On Friday, August 08, 2008 at exactly 8:08pm local time, the ceremonies will commence.

The role of massage therapists in the sport of track and field carries a high level of importance for many U.S.  athletes.  During the Olympic Trials in Eugene, Oregon, there were more than 30 massage therapists who volunteered their time and expertise to some of America’s most talented athletes. The majority of the top 10% of USA track and field athletes employ personal providers, of which most are massage therapists and chiropractors.  The role of soft-tissue therapy for both performance preparation and performance recovery is critical to these athletes, where most running events require several rounds of racing to advance to the finals or medal round. 

 I was employed by three elite sprinters, a decathlete, and a 1500 meter runner to provide massage therapy and stretching services.  I’m proud to say, all five of these athletes I worked with made the USA Olympic Team and will be representing the United States at the 2008 Summer Olympics!

To get through four very hard sprint races in two days, as was required for the 100 meters, necessitates having good personal medical support in the form of massage therapy and chiropractic.  Ask any elite track and field athlete, from the 100 meter to the marathon,  and they’ll all undoubtedly tell you how important this is to their performance and recovery!

Many massage therapists often contact me and say they want to do what I have done with my massage career and work with top competitive athletes.  What I want to make clear, first and foremost, there is nothing glamorous about the work I do with athletes at this level.  But I enjoy my profession and my work totally–an 18-hour work day does not feel like work to me!  And I am not exaggerating when I say it’s an 18 hour work day!  I have been a massage therapy, personal medical provider for track and field athletes since 1977.  I have worked at Track and Field Olympic Trials since 1980 (’88, ‘92,’96, 2000, 2004, 2008).  I have worked in Europe and Asia, including the World Championships in 2003 (Paris) and 2007 (Osaka).

 What goes on behind the scenes to ready athletes is driven by “hands-on” care! Skilled and knowledgeable massage therapists play a critical role for the athletes and coaches in this area.

During the Olympic Trials in Eugene, massage therapists like myself were known as personal medical (PM) providers. Those are the credentials we’re issued, and all massage therapists must purchase these credentials at the Trials, Olympics, World Championships, etc. to have access to their athletes.  A massage therapist working as a credentialed PM must pay $245 for the credential per person.  So for myself and my one associate, our credential cost was $490.  At the Olympics in Athens in 2004, the Athlete Support Credential cost $300 to $500 each depending on venue access. 

In my collection of credentials from track and field meets and championships over the past 30 years, I hold an Olympic Games “Infinity” credential that allows you access into most areas at the Olympic Games, and I might add, it also gives you access to some pretty good seats if I ever had time to attend any events! Ask any veteran Olympic official what it takes to be issued an “Infinity” credential, and they’ll ask in reply, “What branch of government is this person in?”  I was issued such a credential in 2004 in Athens, Greece. It is my most prized credential in my collection, next to my Atlanta 1996 credential that allowed me onto the “Field of Play” at the track in Olympic Stadium as the “athlete’s medical liaison.”

The organization of the medical and massage therapy services at the Trials in Eugene was superb by any standard!  The massage therapists and chiropractors did an incredible job of providing high quality and professional care to America’s best track and field athletes.  In the Personal Medical area, the number of athletes who have now employed personal massage therapists and chiropractors appears to have doubled from the 2004 Olympic Trials.  I can only speculate that more and more professional track and field athletes see the tremendous benefit of not only receiving regular weekly massage therapy, but also that the massage therapist is a highly important member of the athlete’s support team.

While in China, I will blog my experiences before and during the Games.  I will be in China for one month.  We have a training camp for two weeks before Track and Field competition begins in Beijing. I will share my personal experiences and much of what it is like behind-the-scenes as a massage therapist at the greatest sporting event on the planet.  Stay tuned and hold on, because I believe this may be one of the greatest Olympic Games ever!

Benny Vaughn LMT, ATC, NCTMB

Fort Worth, Texas USA

Posted on July 11th, 2008 by Benny Vaughn
Filed under: 2008 Olympics