“The image associated with the elite athlete seems to embrace blows, contacts and risks. Is this still acceptable? »

2024-07-27 12:00:17

AWhen the Paris 2024 Olympic Games have just opened, the issue of athlete health is little considered and addressed. However, athletes use their bodies as their primary work tool.

High-level athletes, through the daily repetition of high-level physical activity, certain movements, or even through contact, multiply the risks and therefore, understandably, have better care. However, few professional sports teams invest significantly, and in line with needs, in medical cells.

They want, when they have the opportunity of money, to invest in marketing, in communication, or even to improve the performance of athletes in a short time. So we see a weakness with the rest of society, where investments in prevention are much lower than the needs of the population, although they are important to anticipate future problems, which are important and disabling.

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Some sports, of course, present more risks than others, and some have a long-term effect on the athletes’ health. So, arguments in rugby or football are a controversial but very real subject. The taboo was recently broken by Raphaël Varane, a former player of the French football team, who said, on FranceinfoIn 2014, having played the World Cup in Brazil in 2014, right after a struggle. He even explained that he taught his young son to go for this reason.

Chronic traumatic encephalopathy

The issue of concussions is somewhat emerging in the world of rugby, as evidenced by the increasingly frequent lawsuits brought by former players. Across the Atlantic, this question is being asked more and more a dramatic increase in observed disputes by the American football league, the National Football League.

These arguments carry the highest risks, because they favor, for example, the development of diseases such as traumatic brain injury (CTE), which alters cognitive functions. The old glory of American football Phillip Adamssuffering from it, killed six people by shooting in April 2021, before killing himself.

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The collective image associated with the rich and famous elite athlete would seem to justify his acceptance of blows, contact and risks to the body. Is this still acceptable? What about, moreover, the millions of people who practice competitive sports?

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