PARIS - Athletes competing in the newly introduced Olympic sports of BMX freestyle, karate and skateboarding suffered some of the highest rates of injuries at the Tokyo Games, new research showed on Wednesday.

The three new events were among the five with the most injuries at the 2020 Summer Olympics, which were held in 2021 due to the pandemic.

Boxing and BMX racing had the highest rates, with 27 per cent of competitors getting injured, according to a study carried out by researchers from the International Olympic Committee (IOC).

Next came the new events of BMX freestyle, which had 22 per cent of its athletes injured, followed by skateboarding with 21 per cent and karate with 19 per cent, said the study published in the British Journal of Sports Medicine.

But other new events had fewer injuries, including sport climbing with a rate of 15 per cent, surfing with 13 per cent and 3x3 basketball with 11 per cent.

The study’s lead author Torbjorn Soligard, who works in the IOC’s medical and scientific department, told AFP “it is important to note that more than half the injuries recorded did not lead to any time lost from competition”.

IOC researchers have tracked injuries and illnesses in every Olympics since Beijing 2008. More than 11,300 athletes from 206 teams were monitored in Tokyo, with more than a thousand injuries recorded. Overall, 9 per cent of athletes in Japan suffered an injury, comparable to 8 per cent at the 2016 Rio Games, 11 per cent at the 2012 London Olympics and 10 per cent in Beijing.

Tokyo saw the lowest rate of sickness ever recorded at an Olympics – it was conducted under strict Covid-19 restrictions – with 3.9 cases of illness per 100 athletes, compared to 5.4 in Rio and 7.2 in London.

“This might largely be attributed to the extensive counter-measures put in place to mitigate Covid-19, effectively reducing transmission of Covid-19 and all respiratory infections,” the study’s authors said.

Less than 0.2 per cent of the athletes caught the virus.

Newly introduced sports were also among the most injury-prone at the Paralympics, with taekwondo and badminton among the top four, according to a parallel study.

Eight per cent of Paralympians were injured in Tokyo, a drop from the 12 per cent recorded in both Rio and London. However, the injuries were more severe, the researchers found. AFP