The U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committee emphasizes athlete health, offering preventative measures to avoid illness and injury during the 2026 Winter Games in Milan-Cortina, Italy. They aim to combat the common cold and other illnesses that can hinder performance, focusing on nutrition, sleep, and preventative strategies.
SALT LAKE CITY — The U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committee has a saying to remind Team USA athletes to protect their health ahead of competing in the 2026 Winter Games that begin in February in Milan-Cortina, Italy.
"Don't let a cold keep you from gold."They're not kidding around. The recommendations from the Colorado Springs-based U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committee's sports medicine experts go well beyond face-masking and hand-washing, offering plenty of tips for avoiding germs on the road as well as at home."We know that Team USA are the best athletes in the world. But even the best athletes have to be healthy in order to achieve their personal best," Dr. Jonathan Finnoff, the committee's chief medical officer, said during the Team USA Summit held ahead of the 2026 Winter Games.That isn't always the case, he said."We know, that on average, about 30% of our Olympic athletes and 45% of our Paralympic athletes are either injured or ill at the Games. They still compete. They still train," Finnoff said, but their performance is likely to suffer.Data collected by the sports medicine team shows that on average, athletes who are sick or injured drop about four places in competition. That could mean the difference between bringing home a gold medal and finishing off the podium, in fourth place."So it's super, super important going into the Games that our athletes are healthy," the doctor said. That means an emphasis on nutrition, sleep and taking preventative measures.The common cold has long been the bane of athletes, particularly those who compete on snow and ice. "The most dreaded opponent at the Olympics: The common cold," a New York Times headline declared from the 2018 Winter Games in Pyeongchang, South Korea.That year, an outbreak of norovirus, a highly contagious illness marked by vomiting and diarrhea, swept through the Winter Games staff and forced the South Korean military to step in for security personnel. Still, the Times reported, athletes were more fearful about catching a cold.Of course, two years later, the world was dealing with global pandemic that delayed the 2020 Summer Games in Tokyo by a year. Both the Tokyo Games and the 2022 Winter Games in Beijing were held within a "bubble" as a guard against COVID-19.For the Milan-Cortina Games, Finnoff had some pretty specific travel tips for Team USA."We go so far as to say on a plane, you should be in the middle of the plane and in a
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