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The United States Olympic Committee has named sports medicine specialist Robert W. Frederick, M.D., of the Rothman Institute at Thomas Jefferson University Hospital, Philadelphia, as head physician for the U.S. men's and women's artistic and woman’s rhythmic gymnastics teams competing in the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens, Greece.

Dr. Frederick, assistant professor of Orthopaedic Surgery, Jefferson Medical College of Thomas Jefferson University, is one of only eight physicians in the United States, and the only one from the state of Pennsylvania, selected to provide medical care to approximately 540 American athletes taking part in the games this August.

“This is a once-in-a–lifetime opportunity,” Dr. Frederick said. “These athletes have dedicated the last four years of their lives towards the goal of competing in Greece and bringing home the gold. Our goal as their physicians is to minimize the impact of any injury or illness on their achieving this life long dream.

“Our positions are entirely voluntary and will require a four-week commitment in Greece…away from our wives, children and of course our jobs at home,” he said.

In addition to the gymnastics teams, Dr. Frederick will provide medical services to the acrobatic and trampoline athletes, as well as to some of the smaller U.S. sports which do not have a physician dedicated to their participants.

In all, there will be 40 personnel in the Olympics medical team, including physicians, physical therapists and athletic trainers.

Dr. Frederick was selected because of his past experience in the Olympic Games. During the 1996 Summer Olympic Games in Atlanta, he served as director of athlete care for gymnastics and cared for gymnasts including Kerry Strug, who, during the 1996 Olympics, won a gold medal for herself and her team, despite a severe ankle injury. Since the Atlanta games, he has been chosen as chief orthopaedic consultant for the U.S. Women’s Artistic Gymnastics Team and was named head physician for the U.S. Women’s Rhythmic Team. In 2001, he was director of care for the USA National Gymnastic Championships held in Philadelphia, in addition to providing medical and orthopaedic care at subsequent National Championships in other cities. This year he was selected as the head USOC Physician for the USA Gymnastic Olympic Trials in Anaheim, Calif.

Dr. Frederick and the other team physicians will be on site at 97 different venues around Athens during competitions, as well as at the Olympic Village, where the teams will be housed during the Games.

"We're going to be going 24/7, no time for sightseeing," Dr Frederick said of his work schedule.

In artistic gymnastics, men and women compete separately on different apparatus; the men compete in floor exercises, pommel horse, rings, vault, parallel bars and horizontal bar. Women compete in four events: vault, uneven bars, balance beam and floor exercises. Rhythmic gymnastics is performed exclusively by women and is a combination of gymnastics and dance. The gymnasts perform choreographed movements with musical accompaniment using hand apparatus such as a rope, hoop, ball, clubs and a ribbon.

Dr. Frederick said common injuries among gymnasts include the less traumatic overuse injuries such as stress fractures, bursitis and tendonitis but also include more significant ligamentous tears (such as the knee anterior cruciate ligament or ACL) and joint dislocations such as with the shoulder. “The gymnast exposes his or her body to incredible forces with every skill they perform. Even the slightest alteration in one of these skills (such as a back flip on the balance beam or a missed release move on the high bar) could lead to devastating injury and an end to their dream.”

In addition to his work with gymnasts, Dr. Frederick is also Assistant Team Physician to the Philadelphia Phillies, the Philadelphia Soul Arena Football team and St. Joseph’s University. He also helps provide medical coverage for many of the elite track and field events and distance runs in Philadelphia.

A native of Westchester County, New York, Dr. Frederick came to Jefferson in 1999, after serving as director of Sports Medicine at Emory University School of Medicine in Atlanta.

Dr. Frederick served as assistant professor of orthopaedic surgery at Emory and as team physician for all sports programs at Emory. He has assisted in the care of professional football and hockey teams including the New England Patriots and the Boston Bruins. In addition, he provided orthopaedic and medical care at numerous sporting events in the Atlanta area.

He is an active member of several professional societies including the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons. Dr. Frederick is board-certified in orthopaedic surgery and served on the orthopaedic staff at Crawford Long Hospital, Emory University Hospital, Grady Memorial Hospital and Egleston Children’s Hospital, all located in Atlanta.

Dr. Frederick has published and presented numerous papers on his clinical and research interests including knee and shoulder injuries, meniscal cartilage transplantation and the treatment of articular cartilage injuries in the knee.

He completed an internship and residency in orthopaedic surgery and the Allen Scholar Research fellowship in orthopaedic surgery, all while at the University Hospitals of Cleveland and Case Western Reserve University. He also completed a clinical and research fellowship in arthroscopy and sports medicine at Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School.

Dr. Frederick received a bachelor of science degree in 1981 from Colgate University in Hamilton, N.Y., and a doctor of medicine degree in 1985 from Rush Medical College in Chicago.