“It’s something that we all sit around and theorize about. The Olympics is an environment where interprofessional care actually works.” Initially, he looked after local soccer teams, expanded to hockey and swimming, before graduating to the big leagues – recruited to serve at international competitions. Hard work Rio was Merepeza’s fifth round at the Olympics, starting with Beijing in 2008. Team Canada’s sprinters are his regulars. One of this year’s Olym-pic favourites, sprinter Andre De Grasse, has been a patient of Merepeza’s since the beginning of his www.canadianchiropractor.ca athletics career. He witnessed De Grasse’s evolu-tion from accidental sprinter to Canada’s fastest man, just strides behind the world’s fastest man Usain Bolt. “I’m extremely happy for him, because I’ve seen him working hard all through his career,” Merepeza says of De Grasse, who took home the silver medal for the men’s 200-meter event, and bronze medals for men’s 100-meters and 4x100-meter relay. “Yes, he’s extremely talented, but he also works very hard and he’s very focused.” Merepeza is proud to have contributed to the success of Canada’s athletics team, but stresses he is merely a spoke on the wheel of these athletes’ entire crew. He does, however, make sure he does his part really well for the athletes. In De Grasse’s case, for instance, he says, “I just ensure that he’s healthy and he is biomechanically sound, and he performs well. That is my job.” Having worked for other Olympic delegations, Merepeza was invited to apply to join Athletics Canada’s medical staff. His credentials, coupled with his experience working with Olympic hope-fuls, clinched it for him. In the four years leading up to the Games, the staff is brought on board so athletes have an op-portunity to get to know them. They tag along at various competitions to see if they work well to-gether. “Athletics Canada has done a great job of build-ing a team of coaches familiar to them,” says Vargo, “so they have this built-in comfort zone.” It was Vargo’s sports fellowship and experience treating NHL players and Sarnia, Ont.’s hometown heroes – such as middle-distance runner Hilary Stellingwerff – which made him an asset. “If you’ve been in the trenches with them for the last few years,” says Vargo, “they know who you are and are more likely to sit down and talk to you.” One of the most unforgettable moments – and perhaps the proudest moment – for Vargo at the Rio Olympics was when Derek Drouin bagged the gold medal in men’s high jump. Drouin has been under Vargo’s chiropractic care since he was 11 years old. Vargo recalls the moment Drouin made his Olym-pic gold-winning jump, watching from the sidelines with Drouin’s parents beside him. He didn’t care that he started to tear up as he realizes the young boy who first came into his chiropractic clinic for a hockey injury is now an Olympic gold medalist – and he’s been a part of that journey. “People who saw me on TV sitting beside his parents were saying, ‘you look so proud.’ In some-body like (Brouin), if you watch him on TV, you knew how well he represents Canada in his demean-our, in his poise, in his character. How could you not be proud to be a part of his team?” Vargo says. October 2016 Canadian Chiropractor 25 Photo credit: Dr. Alban Merepeza
Chiropractic + Naturopathic Doctor October 2016: Page 25
