Home

As a two-time medical staff member for the United States Olympic Team, Dr. Ira Shapiro learned that being from New Jersey pays off. At the 2006 Winter Olympics in Torino, Italy, Shapiro, director of the Plaza Chiropractic Center and a member of Congregation Beth Ohr in Old Bridge, was befriended by New Jersey Devils' star Scott Gomez. When they went out to a bar one night, Gomez casually introduced Shapiro to the man widely recognized as the greatest hockey player ever.

"Doc, you know Wayne Gretzky?" Shapiro recalled Gomez asking him. "Wayne, say hello to Doc."

That was one of the numerous interactions with athletes that Shapiro said made his trips to Torino and the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens worthwhile. In the midst of the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver, Shapiro spoke about his experiences to fellow congregants and community members at Beth Ohr on Feb. 21.

Though it's an unwritten rule that medical staffers can only go to one Olympics, Shapiro received a surprise call in November 2005 that he was heading to Torino. A chiropractor as well as an EMT, Shapiro told The Jewish State he was selected twice because "there were a number of situations that arose that I seemed to take the lead on and handle," such as emergency medical procedures other doctors weren't comfortable with.

Since he was the only U.S. chiropractor at the 2004 games, Shapiro was practically the "busiest person there," he told the crowd of about 35 people at Beth Ohr. In Athens and Torino, Shapiro had 17-hour workdays from 8 a.m. to 11 p.m., dealing with injuries and ongoing treatments for a steady stream of athletes both before and after they practiced.

A chiropractor's work is important at the games because muscles move the bones and an athlete's efficiency is proportional to the alignment of the bones, Shapiro explained.

"It's like having a Ferrari, you've got to fine tune and tweak the engine on a daily basis," he said.

The medical staff's impact isn't lost on the athletes, Shapiro said. While former gold-medal winning wrestler Rulon Gardner was being interviewed by NBC in Athens, he said "Hey doc!" and stopped the interview when Shapiro passed by, Shapiro recalled. When the reporter was annoyed at Gardner, the wrestler responded: "I can't compete without him, I can compete without you," Shapiro said.

In the Olympic Village, where athletes and staff are housed for the games, Shapiro said he "got to see a side of the athletes that most people don't see." The athletes are ordinary people who do extraordinary things, and many of them are amateurs who haven't yet been spoiled by large salaries and winnings in their sports. The village is the "ultimate inside," Shapiro said, comparing the security level to that of the Pentagon.

"The more clearance you have, the deeper into the Pentagon you can go," Shapiro said.

One day in the cafeteria, Shapiro said Herman Frazier, a liaison between the United States Olympic Committee (USOC) and the International Olympic Committee (IOC), asked him what he thought of the beds and other accommodations in the village. When Shapiro answered, "Yea, it's OK," Frazier asked him to say what he really thought, because he needed to report back to the IOC and tell them what to change.

"I wish I had that kind of power back here," Shapiro said. "Here it's, 'yes dear'."

Star athletes and relative unknowns receive the same accommodations and treatment from the U.S. team at the games, Shapiro said, showing that "It's not that you won the medal [that's important], it's that you competed and you're an Olympian, and that gets you in the door."

Shapiro said he heard Eric Heiden, a five-time gold medalist in speed skating as well as orthopedic surgeon, tell U.S. skater Chad Hedrick in Torino "Look, don't lose your focus" after Hedrick took gold in the 5,000-meter event. Hedrick responded "I can handle it" and soaked in the media hype and party-like atmosphere at the Olympics, only to settle for a bronze medal and a silver medal after his win in the 5,000 instead of making a highly anticipated run at Heiden's five golds.

Due to the similarity of athletes' motions in the sports of curling and bowling (where Shapiro had previous expertise), Shapiro got to travel with the U.S. curling team in Torino. The team won a bronze medal, but Shapiro couldn't wait for the medal ceremony because he needed to return to the medical clinic, so the team showed its appreciation for his work by letting him take their bus back all on his own.

"It's a 54-person bus, and it's me and the bus driver," Shapiro recalled.

Shapiro also learned the importance of the barter system at the Olympics, donating his closing ceremonies uniform to gold-medal snowboarder Shaun White -- because White appeared on Jay Leno in the middle of the Olympics and already had his clothes shipped home -- in exchange for a signed picture of White for his daughter. Shapiro used similar tactics when he had extra tickets to events.

"Every piece of clothing I had, for the longest time, says nothing but Olympics on it," he said.

There is a point system for getting selected to be an Olympic doctor, Shapiro said, with categories like areas of certification and graduate degrees. Shapiro first applied in 1995, and in 2000 was selected for two-week internship at the U.S. Olympic training center in Colorado Springs, where he was evaluated among a group of four doctors. Doctors don't know who their evaluators are during the process, Shapiro said, and it didn't dawn upon him at the 2003 Titan Games in San Jose, Calif., that when the lead U.S. doctor asked him to chat, it was essentially his final interview for the 2004 Olympics.

When Shapiro was asked to join the team again for the 2006 Games, he recalled his wife saying "Wait a sec, you told me it was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to go to Athens!" Doctors at the Olympics have their travel and all other expenses subsidized, but don't get paid for their work there, Shapiro said. Shapiro had to be in Torino from Feb. 1-March 3 in 2006, therefore missing a month in his office, but said his valuable experience proved money isn't always the most important thing in life.

Before Shapiro's talk, Ed Mendlowitz, who organized the event, told the crowd that the recent nature of Shapiro's Olympic experience makes his story even more fascinating.

"It's a new thing," Mendlowitz said. "It's not something he did 25 years ago."