Jerseys off, scrubs on for these champs
NEWDELHI:Not just doctors, this COVID-19 outbreak has necessitated the deployment of an unprecedented number of health personnel in the form of nurses and voluntary caregivers across the world. While most major sports events have been cancelled or postponed, not all athletes are recuperating in their homes. Take the captain of England women’s cricket team, Heather Knight, for example. She has signed up to be a National Health Service (NHS) volunteer to counter the Covid-19 pandemic. “I signed up to the NHS’s volunteer scheme as I have a lot of free time on my hands and I want to help as much as I can,” Knight wrote in her column for the BBC.
Four-time Olympic ice hockey gold medallist Hayley Wickenheiser, in the final year of medical school after retiring in 2017, is now a permanent fixture at Toronto’s emergency rooms. Here’s looking at a few other athletes trying to make a difference during this difficult time.
RACHAEL LYNCH
A qualified nurse in Perth, Australia’s hockey goalkeeper has had a long career dealing with neuro-rehabilitation at the Fiona Stanley
Hospital. She has been redeployed in the fight against the Covid-19 pandemic. Instead of returning to her Melbourne home, the 2019 FIH Goalkeeper of the Year stayed back in Perth to assist the afflicted. “I found out Tokyo was moved to 2021, honestly, all I was thinking about was trying to get into the hospital. I applied to work at the Covid-19 assessment centre and increase my hours from one to three days per week,” Lynch told olympics.com.au.
JOYCE SOMBROEK
By 26, Dutch goalkeeping ace Joyce Sombroek had ticked all the relevant boxes in hockey. The FIH Hockey Stars Women’s Goalkeeper of the Year in 2014 and 2015, Sombroek was part of the Dutch team that won the
European Championship in 2011, the 2012 Olympics in London, the World Championship in 2014 and a silver in the 2016 Rio Olympics.
After the Rio, Sombroek completed her medical studies and is now in Aalsmeer, Amsterdam, where she checking suspected patients. And if all goes well, Sombroek should be at Tokyo next year as a doctor at the ‘TeamNL Tokyo Center’.
PAULA PARETO
When she is not wearing the judogi, Argentina’s reigning Olympic judo champion (48kg) Pareto works as an orthopaedic doctor at the San Isidro Hospital, Buenos Aires. After spending two weeks in self-isolation for participating in the Yekaterinburg Grand Slam, Pareto returned to duty as part of the health team working on the frontline fighting the outbreak. She quoted Winston Churchill in her post on the day she returned to work: “...As long as we have faith in our cause and an unconquerable willpower, victory will be within our grasp.”
JO BRIGDEN-JONES
Australian sprint kayaker Jo Brigden-Jones competed at the 2012 London Olympics but missed out on the next Games in Rio. However, she utilised that time to kickstart a career as a paramedic for New South Wales Ambulances. She again made the cut for the Tokyo Olympics and was instructed to reach the Gold Coast for training. But the postponement meant she is now working full time as a paramedic.