Olympic experience: Physician-assistant student works as trainer

Cheryl Parker at left with Gail Devers, hurdler, and below, seated right, with other trainers for the U.S. team in Sydney

By Pamela Wyngate
HS News & Community Relations

Cheryl Parker had her ticket to the Sydney Olympics before she even started the MEDEX Northwest program. Now a second-year MEDEX student, Parker’s experience as a Olympics track and field athletic trainer fell right into place, counting as her first physician assistant clerkship.

“I would get e-mails from my friends, who were also in clerkships, talking about their 60-hour work weeks,” says Parker. “Sixty hours sounds tough. But we [Olympic trainers] started at six in the morning and worked until midnight almost every day.”

A certified athletic trainer since 1986, Parker has worked track meets with the Indianapolis-based USA Track and Field organization since 1990. That year Parker’s B.S. in athletic training from the University of Las Vegas and M.A. in athletic administration from Idaho State helped secure a trainer position in UW athletics working with the golf, tennis, football and basketball teams.

Beginning Aug. 10, 2000 Parker met the 124 U.S. track and field athletes in San Diego for the first of three pre-Olympics training camps. By September they were all in the Olympic Village in Sydney, Australia. During training and in the Village, Parker also managed to study for her first-year MEDEX exam.

“By that time, the athletes knew me and were into helping me learn,” says Parker. “They’d see me reading my textbook and offer to quiz me. I’d never given a shot. And the athletes would say, ‘Hey, you want to give me my flu shot?’ she adds.

Even as a veteran of international sporting events, Parker admits that the Olympics presented a stressful environment for trainers as well as athletes. “As a trainer, what you say and do can make or break an athlete,” she says. “These are professional athletes. If they are injured - if they miss a race - it’s like us missing months of work.”

The most common complaints of Olympics track and field athletes were hamstring strains and cramping. Massage, ultrasound and anti-inflammatory medicines were usually the answer. One congested athlete, however, presented Parker with one of her most stressful situations in Sydney.

“It was 30 minutes before a race and this athlete wanted to take his own decongestant,” she explains. “We were all out of our own [team] meds. The question then was, is his drug legal?” Doping was a major issue at the Games, according to Parker. “So we started looking up the drug and trying to get in touch with the doctor on the field to ask him,” she says.

The drug was legal, and the athlete competed successfully. Parker felt she did her best for the team. “A success for my athletes was a success for me,” she says.