Olympic ties which date back 12 years have been renewed at the London 2012 Olympics by Malta’s former top female swimmer and two times ‘Sportswoman of the Year’, Angela Galea.
Having represented our country in Sydney, in 2000, and four years later in Athens, Galea, now a fully-fledged medical doctor, was elated to be ‘a part of the London success in some way or another’.
Currently pursuing her professional career and specialising in radiology, she was chosen out of thousands of applicants as a volunteer to perform special roles.
Galea was assigned duties as a ‘crowd doctor’ at Eton Dorney, the venue for the rowing and sprint canoe events.
Very recently in Malta for a short break, Galea was very happy to re-live the amazing atmosphere at what she described as “a beautiful site at the rowing venue”.
“All the volunteers were a pleasure to work with. Many were proud relatives of athletes representing the successful GB team and others were chosen to volunteer because their parents had worked in a similar way at the 1948 London Olympics,” she said.
“I was mostly in charge of the Spectator Medical team.
“However, I did have a role with the Athlete Medical team in charge of ultrasound scanning in the athletes’ polyclinic as I was the only radiologist on the rowing site, apart from those specialists working in the Olympic village.”
Asked how she coped with these responsibilities Galea said that luckily “very few athletes needed this specialised service as injuries were minor”.
Recounting the atmosphere, she said: “I was lucky to witness first hand the golden regatta with no fewer than four home gold medals. I got to meet some very popular rowing athletes as well as past Olympic medallists.
“The London Games was an experience I will treasure.”
Warm meeting
Galea then recounted her warm meeting with the Maltese athletes in the Olympic village which was made possible thanks to the Maltese Olympic Committee.
“I met up with the Maltese athletes some of whom are old friends. On the whole they were very satisfied with what I think were good performances from them,” Galea said.
Recalling her memories of the London Games, Galea was quick to acknowledge everyone’s important role in such a massive manifestation of sport.
“I have very fond memories of the Games. As an athlete everything is handed out to you on a silver platter and all is planned to perfection so as to make your experience as successful as possible.
“This time round, my role was on the organising team and thanks to this I have a better appreciation of the work that went into making my Olympic experience one of the fondest memories of my lifetime,” Galea concluded.