London calling: an Olympian effort

Precious few people get to the Olympics, but the London Games will mark the ninth occasion David Gerrard has attended the world's premier sporting event. Reporter Adrian Seconi talks to the sports medicine expert.

Most of us can only imagine the sound 80,000 people make when they cheer fanatically at a group of strangers walking slowly around an athletics track.

David Gerrard remembers the night well.

His long association with the Olympics began at the opening ceremony of the Tokyo Olympics in 1964, and will continue at the London Games later this month.

Dr Gerrard (67), who is the associate professor of sports medicine at the Dunedin School of Medicine, is part of a medical team commissioned by swimming governing body Fina to help weed out drug cheats.

He will be poolside when the New Zealand swim team looks to add to its proud history.

Dr Gerrard is part of that story, of course. He finished sixth in the final of the 200m butterfly in Tokyo and has stayed involved in sport at the top level through his work.

He returned to the Olympics as a team doctor for New Zealand in 1984 and again in 1988. In Barcelona, he was part of a medical team, and in Atlanta, he was the chef de mission for the New Zealand team.

At the Athens, Sydney and Beijing Olympics he continued Fina's fight against performance-enhancing drugs.

"I think I'm probably more excited about this one," Dr Gerrard said when asked if the event still held its thrill for him.

"I think London is a wonderful site for an Olympic Games because of the history and the city itself.

"The venues that I've seen are absolutely outstanding.

"I was there in November and got an opportunity to see the main stadium, the velodrome from the outside and was privileged to be taken on a tour of the pool.

"All these facilities were finished a year ago and have held practice events ... and I think that will make London a bit special. Beijing was good, too.

"Athens, you will recall, was a bit last-minute and you sensed that when you arrived. Sometimes you were standing outside an Olympic venue and you did not want to touch the paint because it was still wet and the ready-made lawn had just been laid that morning.

"They got there and it was fantastic ... but boy, they cut corners to get there. London has been well-thought through and there has been a huge emphasis on the environment and the legacy of the Games.

"That has been something which has concerned me when you'd go back many years later to look at an old Olympic venue and see it under-utilised at a huge cost to the community."

The London Games have bought new life to the East End area of London in what Dr Gerrard described as an "amazing restoration".

He counts the thrill of marching into the Olympic stadium in Tokyo all those years ago as one of his favourite memories, and Danyon Loader's double gold medal effort at the Atlanta Games in 1996 was a very special and emotional time.

"I looked at Duncan [Laing, Loader's coach] and he looked at me and we were both bawling our eyes out as the national anthem was playing. It was a time of great emotion.

"For three of us from Dunedin to be there it was extra special. It was something which was just unbelievable." There have been lows as well.

Dr Gerrard was saddened by the "Ben Johnson affair". The Canadian sprinter won the 100m in a world record time at the Seoul Games but was stripped of his gold medal and record a couple of days later after testing positive for a banned substance.

There have been other cheats but Johnson sullied the glamour event and it was a watershed moment in the fight against performance-enhancing drugs.

Despite the many controversies over the years, Dr Gerrard believes the Olympic brand is "alive and well" and he is optimistic about New Zealand's prospects.

"It is not an original comment by me to say we've never had more athletes in the top 10 in the year leading into Olympics. It is a brave person out there predicting medal tallies. There is Val [Valerie Adams] and Nick Willis in the track and field events, and I think our strength will be in rowing and cycling for medals.

The equestrian team is not to be sniffed at. I think we have an outside chance in triathlon and our sailors have traditionally performed well at the Olympics.

"From my own sport - swimming - I think we will be certainly capable of making a couple of finals and some will be in line for semifinals. We don't have any Danyon Loaders out there but we've got some remarkable young talent coming through."

 

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