The Olympic Games and sports medicine.

Both the lofty aims of the Olympic movement and the tangible aim ofwinning Olympic Gold medals means that the BOA has become involved more broadly in the provision and development of sports science and medicine in Great Britain. We have a responsibility to all individuals who take part in any Olympic sport, especially the juniors who so often fail to make that difficult leap to successful senior competition. Thus it is good to see the close cooperation that has developed between the BOA, British Association of Sport and Medicine (BASM) and the National Sports Medicine Institute (NSMI). We are pushing hard together for the development of sports and exercise medicine as a specialty. The care of present and potential Olympians will be served best by full time doctors attracted to the specialty by a proper career structure. Looking to the future the proposed Academy of Sport is likely to provide a large stimulus to change. The BOA already provides most of the services to Olympic sports that are planned for the Academy of Sport, and I hope that the Academy will enable us to provide elite services to a far larger population of athletes in co-operation with all organisations involved in sports science and medicine. The Centenary Olympic Games and the universal appeal of the Olympic rings will increase the interest in all types of sport. It is right that we should use this goodwill and enthusiasm to further the development of sports and exercise medicine.