Dr Sarah Beable, lead specialist for Queenstown’s Axis Sports Medicine, is deputy health team lead with a team of five doctors, three physios and two massage therapists.
They’re overseeing 193 athletes and 160 staff across 23 sports, though some sports have their own medical cover.
Beable also worked at the 2016 Rio Olympics and three Commonwealth Games.
With Covid still floating around, as well as flu and the common cold, she notes, "we have implemented a sound health prevention/hygiene strategy to reduce the incidence and spread of illness".
There’s also a heat strategy for teams they suspect could be affected by 30°C-plus temperatures. "We have a prep and recovery physiology and nutrition team with us — and have our own recovery facilities set up such as cold pools, cold vests and cool slushy makers."
She says NZ’s athletes have all gone through pre-event medical and mental health screening, with checks also made on their supplements and medications.
She’s done a quick tour of the Olympic venues, which are mostly in historic venues, and says "there’s a definite buzz starting to happen as the village becomes fully operational".
Team members are all welcomed with a commissioned haka, Pou Tangata, "which is a special, moving time for all of us".
"We are all very proud to be here as part of the NZ team."
Beable has already been named NZ’s health team lead for the Olympic Winter Olympics Milano Cortina in Italy in 2026.
