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Published on: 7/24/2008
Last Visited: 7/24/2008
But even the most avid viewer is not likely to have seen Dr. Connie Lebrun, though she's worked four Games over the last dozen years with the Canadian Olympic Committee's medical team.
"Sometimes we're in the background," says Lebrun, director of the Glen Sather Sports Medicine Clinic at the University of Alberta."If you see us out on the field that's not a good thing."
Staying out of the shot is exactly what Lebrun intends to do in Beijing, where she will serve as Canada's assistant chief medical officer, one of the most significant positions on a unit of nearly 50 health professionals who are crossing the Pacific for the 2008 Summer Games.
"Just being there in a high-performance environment for us as sports physicians is kind of the pinnacle of what we do," says Lebrun, the next in line to returning chief medical officer Bob McCormack.
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Lebrun will be with the Canadian archery, beach volleyball, fencing, field hockey and tennis teams at their practices and events.The rest of the time, she's covering shifts at the COC's clinic in the athlete's village, which is open 15 hours a day.
"You pretty much work the whole time you're there," says Lebrun, who is in Beijing for 30 days beginning this Sunday."Occasionally, you have the luxury you have a day or a half day off … you're there to work."
The first Olympic experience for Lebrun was as a member of the Canadian women's volleyball team at the 1976 Games in Montreal.Five years later, she earned a medical degree from McGill University and began her career as a medical professional.
After working in a health services role at events like the Commonwealth Games, Pan American Games and Universiade, Lebrun went to her first Olympics as a physician in 1996.She returned to the five-ring circus in 2000 and 2004 before making her Winter Games debut two years ago in Torino, assisting Canuck snowboarders.
In April, Lebrun traveled to Beijing for a COC mission staff preparation seminar, and has since been busy ensuring the approval and availability of competitors' medications.Upon arriving in China, Lebrun and others will begin unpacking forty trunks of medical supplies transported by cargo ship from Canada.
"When you're an athlete, you know that things are being done in the background, but you don't always know how much," Lebrun says, relating to her experience as a volleyballer.
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Should Lebrun appear on the small screen while in Beijing, hopefully it's in a bit part as inconspicuous as her primetime debut during the closing ceremonies of the 1996 Games.
"When we unfurled the big Canadian flag, I was part of that," she recalls, laughing.
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