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Lookup NU author(s): Dr Claire McDonald, Professor Avan SayerORCiD, Professor Miles WithamORCiD
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License (CC BY-NC-ND).
© The Author(s) 2024. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the British Geriatrics Society. The 30th Olympiad took place in July 2024. At first glance, sports science and training of elite athletes may appear to be of little relevance to geriatric medicine. However, there are important parallels between the practice of geriatric medicine and elite sports and lessons that we can learn from our sports science colleagues. Elite athletes and older people are operating at the margins of physiological capacity. Both benefit from tailored, scientifically informed training programmes delivered and monitored by a multidisciplinary team. There are parallels between the comprehensive geriatric assessment and the philosophy of marginal gains pioneered by British Cycling. Insights into the biology of skeletal muscle function are beginning to translate into the development of clinical interventions and substances that offer an unfair advantage in sport by improving muscle strength and physical performance may be of therapeutic benefit in sarcopenia. The 2024 Olympics provide an opportunity for us to learn lessons for excellence in our research and provide an opportunity to promote exercise across the life course-important for healthy ageing.
Author(s): McDonald C, Sayer AA, Witham MD
Publication type: Article
Publication status: Published
Journal: Age and Ageing
Year: 2024
Volume: 53
Issue: 10
Online publication date: 04/10/2024
Acceptance date: 13/08/2024
Date deposited: 12/09/2024
ISSN (electronic): 1468-2834
Publisher: Oxford University Press
URL: https://doi.org/10.1093/ageing/afae212
DOI: 10.1093/ageing/afae212
PubMed id: 39364561
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