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SALT LAKE CITY — Speedskater Derek Parra was in Milwaukee, training for the 2002 Olympics, when he crossed one foot in front of the other and pushed off the ice as he'd done hundreds of thousands of times.
But that time, Parra slipped. His back pinched up. Pain shot through his left side. Something was wrong.
There were no doctors or hospitals in Milwaukee advanced enough to treat Parra. He was confined to bed, unable to bend over, his dreams of becoming an Olympic champion shrinking before his eyes.
"I remember thinking, 'Here I was for years, training to do this, and now I'm not even going to be able to get to the Games,'" Parra said.
For elite athletes, it's not "if" they'll get injured, it's "when."
And the next time a U.S. Olympic or Paralympic athlete shatters a knee or contracts a bug, they may find themselves being sent to the University of Utah, which announced Tuesday that it has been chosen to join two other medical centers to provide health care for Team USA.
As the "team behind the team," University of Utah Health Care will supply primary and specialty care for up to 1,000 of the U.S. Olympic Committee’s top athletes who live and train in Utah and the surrounding regions.
At the news conference Wednesday, U.S. Olympic Committee CEO Scott Blackmun said the academic medical system was chosen for its expertise in sports medicine, familiarity with treating Olympic athletes and geographic location.
"My job is to put as many Americans on the podium as possible," Blackmun said. "The fact that our athletes have access to tremendous medical care is a big part of our ability to realize our mission."
Under the partnership, U.S. Olympic athletes will be able to access anything from mental health care to orthopedic surgery in the University of Utah Health Care system.
In return, the academic medical system will be able to participate in research with top athletes and promote itself as one of three national medical centers entrusted by the committee to provide care to the team.
The two other U.S. Olympic Committee national medical centers are the Hospital for Special Surgery in New York and Steadman Philippon Research Institute and the Steadman Clinic in Vail, Colorado.
The U.S. Olympic Committee medical network also consists of six regional medical center, including the UC San Diego Health System and Memorial Hospital, part of University of Colorado Health.
Contracts are still being negotiated, but University of Utah Health Care will provide the majority of services as value-in-kind and plans to spend several hundred thousand dollars out of pocket, spokeswoman Kathy Wilets said.
Shannon Bahrke-Happe, a silver and bronze medalist freestyle skier who has lived in Utah for 18 years, said the partnership should bring peace of mind to current and future U.S. athletes.
“I had to seek out who I wanted to work on me,” Bahrke-Happe said. “Now we know the kind of care that we’re getting, and that is such a huge peace of mind.”
She listed her own numerous surgeries: shoulder surgery, foot surgery, knee surgeries, a broken jaw and a couple back injuries "thrown in there."
“What people don't see is when you're injured, you just blew out your knee, you're laying in the snow crying,” Bahrke-Happe said. “And that moment of getting back up on the podium — it seems like Mt. Everest and you're in Death Valley.
"Your coaches can't really help you at this point," she continued. "It's your physicians — the people who are helping you do your MRIs, the people who are putting you back together."
Salt Lake City Mayor Jackie Biskupski called the selection "no surprise" given the city’s history as an Olympic host. The U.S. Ski and Snowboard Association is headquartered in Park City and the U.S. Speedskating Team trains out of the Utah Olympic Oval in Kearns.
"These athletes have the best training facilities and the greatest snow on Earth to train with," Biskupski said. "And now they have a medical center devoted to their unique needs."
In an effort to support athletes after they're done competing, the partnership will also include a $250,000 pledge from the University of Utah to provide scholarships, internships and a dedicated academic adviser for Olympic athletes at the David Eccles School of Business.
Parra, now 46, said that is one of the “biggest perks” of the partnership.
After determining that nobody could help him in Milwaukee, Parra came to Utah and saw a doctor at the U. who gave him an injection to stop the spasms and nerve pain. He could tell the treatment worked as soon as he started driving home from the procedure, Parra said.
Shortly after his treatment, Parra went on to set a world record and win a gold medal in the 1,500-meter race in the 2002 Olympic Games. He now works as the sports director in the very oval where he won that medal.
"When you get injured … you're literally lost," Parra said. "You’re getting different opinions from different places and a lot of advice from different people."
For an athlete to know that he or she will be in the hands of a health system that has been vetted by the U.S. Olympic Committee means athletes "will feel a lot more relaxed, more confident, and be able to take those steps to being back on top," he said.
Contributing: Keith McCord
