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Research to boost medal chances and health of elderly
University of the Sunshine Coast sport scientist Dr Brendan Burkett is about to embark on an overseas research mission which could lead to Australians winning more Olympic medals.
And, at the same time, Dr Burkett’s three-month trip to Norway, Belgium, Germany and Ireland will benefit elderly Aussies in helping them avoid injury-causing falls.
The four-time Paralympian and director of USC’s Centre for Healthy Activities, Sport and Exercise (CHASE) will fly to Europe on Monday for a mixture of teaching, research and USC promotional assignments.
Dr Burkett’s main objective, however, will be working with colleagues at Leuven University in Belgium to secure the rights to assess the biomechanics of the world’s best swimmers, cyclists and track and field athletes at the Beijing Olympics in 2008.
“We will be preparing and finalising our grant application to the International Olympic Committee to gain access to athletes at Beijing and we will decide what we want to assess there,’’ he said.
“We had these rights at Athens with the swimming and cycling programs, so we’re hoping to go one better with the track and field.”
Dr Burkett said he was keen to assess the athletes’ race strategies, how they paced themselves and how they moved.
“From doing this we will further understand how the human body moves and we can apply that to a 65-year-old who has a great potential for falls,” he said.
“It’s a bit like getting a high-performance race car working properly and then the advancements flowing on to every car on the street.”
Dr Burkett said under IOC’s requirements, he would be obliged to provide general information to the international sporting community. But he also would be able to collect specific data that could help boost the performances of Australian athletes.
“We will look at what the three medallists do that is different from the other five competitors who miss out on the medals, as in their movement patterns and strategies for performance,’’ he said.
“We can feed that data back to local athletes and coaches and the Australian Institute of Sport and say ‘This is what the top athletes in the world are doing’. From that, we can then determine if and where changes need to be made.”
Mr Burkett, who has represented Australia at four Paralympics and three World Swimming Championships and has held several world records, said his background as an international swimmer gave him greater insight into what information was needed to improve performances.