Wake Forest Athletics
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Wake Forest Trainer Selected To Work Olympic Games
July 16, 2004 Adam Pecina, an assistant athletic trainer at Wake Forest, is part of a 47-person medical staff announced by the U.S. Olympic Committee to provide health care for more than 540 American athletes in the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens. Pecina departs Aug. 5 for Athens, Greece, where he will work with the United States men's and women's tennis teams. "I am extremely excited about working the Games," said Pecina, who is entering his fifth year at Wake Forest. "Since my undergraduate days as a student athletic trainer at Texas, it has been one of my goals to work the Summer or Winter Games. And to have the opportunity to work with tennis professionals such as the Williams sisters and Andy Roddick is an added bonus. "I am thrilled to be a apart of the U.S. delegation. I am also anxious to get over to Athens and do my part to help our Olympic athletes realize some of their personal goals and dreams of winning a medal at the Summer Games." Pecina, who will work this coming year with the Demon Deacon women's soccer, women's tennis and cheerleading teams, got a taste of working international competition last summer at the Pan American Games in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic. Pecina, 28, earned his undergraduate degree at Texas in 1998. He came to Wake Forest in 2000 after working two years at Tyler (TX) Junior College. The USA Medical staff consists of medical doctors, certified athletic trainers, massage therapists, chiropractors and pharmaceutical experts. The staff will be directed by head physician David Weinstein, an orthopedic surgeon from Colorado Springs who is a member of the staff at Premier Orthopedics. Ed Ryan, the director of sports medicine at the USOC, along with the USOC's Sports Medicine Committee, headed by Dr. David Joyner who was the 1992 head team physician for the USA Olympic Team, made the selections from those medical professionals who have worked a variety of national and international events for the USOC and have performed a residency at one of the Olympic Training Centers. "This is the Olympic team of sports medical professionals in this country,"said Ryan, who has been a member of the USOC staff for five Olympic Games. "These men and women have proven themselves in a variety of top events and have made a difference in our athletes' performances." The Medical Staff will be with each U.S. Olympic Team at practice and at competitions to care for the athletes and to oversee their health care at the Olympic Games. Some of the staff will work with the athletes at the USOC's Medical Clinic in the Athlete's Village. The USOC also has a staff at the American College of Greece, the training center for many of the athletes and teams of the U.S. delegation. "We feel that our athletes get the best medical care in the world," said Jim Scherr, the USOC's Chief Executive and Chief of Sports Performance. "We go to every length to care for these athletes who have accomplished their goals to get here. We want to make sure they take that next step with the best medical care available." |