Caring for Olympians:

Q&A with Team USA’s head team physician Dr. Gloria Beim

By Kendra Walker

Local orthopedic surgeon and sports medicine specialist Dr. Gloria Beim, MD just got back from Paris serving as the head team physician for Team USA during the 2024 Summer Olympic Games. 

Dr. Beim has been working with professional teams and providing medical direction at elite athletic events around the world for the past 29 years. She has provided her medical services for Team USA for numerous Olympic and Paralympic games, including those in Athens, London, Sochi, Rio, PyeongChang, Tokyo and Beijing.  

The Crested Butte News caught up with Dr. Beim during her final days in Paris to hear about her time abroad representing the Gunnison Valley and caring for Team USA athletes and medalists. 

What does the day in the life of Team USA’s head team physician look like? 

I get up early, drop my bag off at our sports medicine clinic and head to the Costa Coffee stand to get my vanilla latte fix. Then it is game on ready to take care of all athletes and staff that may walk into the clinic all day long. I occasionally left the village to cover some events and even take a patient to the hospital. 

I frequent the polyclinic quite often. This is a clinic for all delegations and offers x-rays, MRIs, dentistry, bracing, ophthalmology, gynecology, etc. We do most treatments and diagnostics including ultrasound in our clinic but when we need imaging or special braces, I take the athletes or staff to the polyclinic.

Sometimes I am working until 11 or 12 in the evening or as long as needed. I also take calls every three to four days to deal with middle of the night issues that may come up. Our massage therapists, chiropractors and physical therapists work tirelessly to help athletes with recovery. 

We also have a lot of recovery equipment in the clinic for the athletes. We also have amazing mental health officers offering wonderful mental health support and they are very popular. A healthy mind is as or more important as a healthy body.

And of course, we have amazing dieticians to make sure the athletes are getting great nutrition for performance. 

We have a great team of health care providers and we really are a TEAM! There are times where I can venture off and enjoy a competition or even my family who are here for the last week. My 25th anniversary is this week and what a place to celebrate!!!

How many people are on the Team USA medical team? How many total athletes are you helping care for?

We have just over 600 athletes for Team USA out of 10,500 total athletes here at the Olympics. We have 1,800 staff to support our athletes. I am head team physician in the village and have four doctors working with me, including one other orthopedic surgeon and the chief medical officer of the USOPC, Jonathan Finnoff. 

We also have two chiropractors, one physical therapist, three athletic trainers and three massage therapists that work in the village clinic. We also have four welfare officers and two sports psychologists working with our team.

In addition, many of the National Governing Bodies (NGBs) have their medical teams with them as well including MDs, DOs, PTs, ATCs and massage therapists. They often visit the clinic as well to care for their athletes. 

There are 32 sports and 329 events. There are 208 different countries here and over 13 million spectators.

Any athletes you’ve worked with from past Olympics that you get to reunite with this summer?

Yes! And also coaches, team leaders and doctors from other countries and prior games that I know. So exciting when they come up and hug me or start chatting and reminiscing about past games experiences. 

What’s it like living and working in the Olympic Village? 

The cardboard beds are actually quite comfortable although I do not sleep much here! I work very hard every day, often on very little sleep, but it is fine since the adrenaline and excitement being around these athletes keeps me going.

There is always food available in the dining hall and even better, there has been a three-star Michelin chef who treats us to the most amazing dishes I have ever tasted on a daily basis. There is also a small bakery here which has fresh baguettes and croissants all day long. All of the food and drinks are free to the athletes and staff so there is no shortage of food, just a shortage of time to eat!

There is always something exciting to see if you have time to walk around the village and seeing all of the different buildings decked out with the country’s flags and decorations is really cool. 

If feels like a different world to listen to all of the different languages all over the place and it is fun to trade pins, make new friends and share in such an amazing experience.

The venues here are so iconic! I covered the mixed triathlon relay the other morning with views you would not believe. My favorite next to the Palace of Versailles (equestrian) has been the beach volleyball with the Eiffel Tower right there! Just amazing!

What have been some highlights from your time in Paris? Any event highlights you’ve gotten to spectate?

The highlight for me was to have the honor of working with so many tremendous athletes from just about every sport here in the USA Sports Medicine clinic on a daily basis for over three weeks! I cannot go into details due to patient privacy but what a feeling to help an athlete achieve their medal dreams (whether it is in a big or even in the smallest way). We were busy with both injury and illness and our amazing medical team were able to keep nearly all of our athletes in the game and continue to win medals!

As far as events: watching Simone Biles win gold in the individual finals from the best seat in the house was truly thrilling. I enjoyed watching many of our swimmers achieve gold. I also really enjoyed watching the equestrian cross-country event at the Palace of Versailles; standing with one of the veterinarians on the course was a dream come true for me!

Have you gotten starstruck by any of the athletes you’ve met?

It was awesome to meet the women’s artistic gymnastics team and even enjoy watching some events in our sports medicine clinic with them routing on the men’s gymnastics team. LeBron [James] was a favorite of our team members! He did visit the athlete’s village preparing for the opening ceremonies and it was a thrill for all of us to see him. I personally am in awe of all of our athletes, and it is just surreal that I had the honor of taking care of many of them.  

Favorite Olympic event to watch? What about your personal favorite sport back home?

All of the sports that I was able to cover or watch were amazing! I am a horse woman so watching the Equestrian Cross Country was a real thrill. The horses are some of my favorite athletes for sure! In the London Olympics, the horses had a team of two vets, two chiropractors, physical therapists and acupuncturists and the riders only had one doc! I also really enjoyed watching Artistic Gymnastics and was very lucky to be able to attend the gold medal football match with our US women!

Back home, I love riding horses, skiing, biking and playing on Blue Mesa behind a boat!

What are your biggest takeaways from this experience/opportunity?

I always learn so many things from working at Olympic and Paralympic Games. Over the past 20 years, it never gets old. It was just as exciting for me to work at these Games in Paris as it was during my first Games in Athens, 2004.  

I always engage medical professionals (doctors, therapists, etc.) from other delegations from all over the world and we share ideas and techniques that I can bring home to my practice. I love treating my own patients in the Gunnison Valley in the same manner as we treat Olympians. 

It was also awesome to have my family here with me during the last week of the Games. The last two Games did not allow any family/friends/fans due to COVID. Prior to that, Rio had the Zika scare and PyeongChang had its own concerns where I preferred not to invite the family. 

We attended the gold medal women’s football match the night before I left, which was so thrilling. I was so excited that my kids Jakob and Skylar, who are both soccer players, were with me in the stands rooting on Team USA!