Newswise — Dr. Mark Hutchinson, professor of orthopedics and sports medicine and head team physician at the University of Illinois at Chicago, is in Argentina the first two weeks of August with the United States men's basketball team at the 21-and-under world championships.
Hutchinson was invited by the U.S. Olympic Committee on behalf of USA Basketball to accompany the team and care for any injuries or illnesses.
He traveled to the Atlanta Games with USA Gymnastics, has traveled to championships with USA Gymnastics, Field Hockey and Swimming, and was a volunteer physician with the U.S. Olympic Committee at the 1999 Olympics in Colorado Springs.
Hutchinson has also served in other volunteer roles for the Olympics, including on the referral board of USA Gymnastics and as a presenter, moderator and a member of the fund raising committee for the International Olympic Committee's Olympic prize for sports sciences.
His dream is to serve as physician for U.S. teams at the Olympic Games in Beijing or London.
"I'm impressed with everything the Olympics means," he said. "The fact that it's pure sport, the concept of fair play and the breaking down of political issues to get people from different countries together on the playing field."
Hutchinson, who played basketball in school, admits to once having had Olympic dreams of his own. "Admittedly, I have to live them vicariously through the skills of these athletes," he said.
There's no guarantee the basketball players going to the world championships in Argentina will become Olympic athletes, Hutchinson said. "But it's very likely three or four will represent the United States at the Beijing Games in 2008. They're the best of their age group, and some of them will be the best college players in the country and probably go on to the NBA."
UIC ranks among the nation's top 50 universities in federal research funding and is Chicago's largest university with 25,000 students, 12,000 faculty and staff, 15 colleges and the state's major public medical center. A hallmark of the campus is the Great Cities Commitment, through which UIC faculty, students and staff engage with community, corporate, foundation and government partners in hundreds of programs to improve the quality of life in metropolitan areas around the world. For more information about UIC, visit www.uic.edu.
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