Olympics
With the 2024 Paris Olympics in full swing, you might be wondering, “What is the most dangerous sport at the Olympics?”
In 2008, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) implemented a multi-sport injury surveillance system and recorded the number of participants and injuries for most Olympic events. In each Olympics, the British Journal of Sports Medicine (BJSM) collates data on the injuries at each Olympic Game. A new study by Casinority has taken the data from the 2008, 2012, 2016, and 2020 Olympics and compared the number of athletes in each sport to the number of reported injuries to determine the sports with the highest risk factors. It is important to note that the injuries incurred can happen during both training as well as competition.
Here are the Top 7 most dangerous Summer Olympic Sports, with each respective injury rate across the last four Summer Games taken into account:
#7 Hockey — 16.55%
#6 Handball — 17.98%
#5 Boxing — 18.12%
#4 Mountain Biking – 22.44%
#3 Football — 27.19%
#2 Taekwondo — 29.92%
#1 BMX — 34.38%
It is important to note that the data from the Casinority study uses the number of injuries recorded in each event and does not take into consideration the severity of the injury. Thankfully, most injuries are minor. For example, in the 2012 London Olympics, where a total of 10 568 athletes participated, of the 1,361 injuries recorded (or 11% of athletes), 65% of the injuries did not result in any time loss from the sport. 18% of the injuries resulted in an absence from sports for 1–3 days, 5% in an absence for 4–7 days, 8% in an absence for 8–28 days, and only 5% in an absence for more than 28 days.
Only 13% of the 1,361 injuries recorded resulted in an estimated absence from training or competition for more than one week. These injuries varied from dislocations to muscle strain and fractures. The sports with the highest rate of injuries entailing a prolonged absence from training or competition were taekwondo (6% of the athletes), handball (5%), BMX cycling (4%), and weightlifting (4%).
If you are wondering what the least injury-prone Olympic Sport is, the answer is canoe slalom, with an average injury rate of just 1.2% over the past four Summer Games.
At SnowBrains, the results naturally made us wonder what the most dangerous Winter Sport is, so watch this space, we will find the answer for you!
