JAKARTA - Athletes competing in the new Olympic sport, namely freestyle BMX, karate, and skateboarding, are among the branches recorded to have experienced the highest injury case rate at the Tokyo Olympics, according to research published Wednesday.
The three new sports disciplines are included in the top five most injury cases at the Tokyo 2020 Summer Olympics which will be held in 2021 due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
BMX's boxing and bicycle racing have the highest rates, with 27 percent of participants injured, according to a study conducted by researchers from the International Olympic Committee (IOC).
Next is freestyle BMX, which caused 22 percent of its athletes to be injured, followed by 21 percent skateboarding and 19 percent karate, said a study published in the British Journal of Sports Medicine, as reported by Antara via AFP.
Other new branches have fewer injuries, including rock climbing with a 15 percent level, surfing with 13 percent, and 3x3 basketball with 11 percent.
IOC researchers have been tracking injuries and illnesses at each Olympics since the 2008 Beijing Olympics. More than 11.300 athletes from the 206 contingent were monitored in Tokyo, with more than a thousand injuries recorded.
Overall, nine percent of athletes in Tokyo were injured, comparable to eight percent at the 2016 Rio Olympics, 11 percent at the 2012 London Olympics, and 10 percent in Beijing.
Tokyo noted that the lowest level of disease ever recorded at the Olympics was carried out under strict COVID-19 restrictions with 3.9 illnesses per 100 athletes, compared to 5.4 in Rio and 7.2 in London.
"This is largely likely due to extensive precautions taken to reduce Covid-19, effectively reducing the transmission of Covid-19 and all respiratory infections," the study's author said.
Less than 0.2 percent of athletes contracted Covid.
The recently introduced sport also includes the most injury-prone at the Tokyo Paralympics, with taekwondo and badminton among the top four with the highest levels, according to a parallel study.
Eight percent of Paralympic athletes were injured in Tokyo, down from 12 percent recorded at the Rio and London Olympics, but injuries were more severe, the researchers found.
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