Continuing a 50-year legacy: 5 Steadman physicians to provide medical coverage for U.S. Ski & Snowboard teams at 2026 Olympic Winter Games in Italy

Continuing a proud Olympic tradition that began 50 years ago in Innsbruck, Austria, physicians from The Steadman Clinic and Steadman Philippon Research Institute (SPRI) will once again support the world’s best athletes on the global stage. Orthopaedic surgeons Randy Viola, M.D., Thomas Hackett, M.D., Leslie Vidal, M.D., and Sonny Gill, M.D., alongside Internal Medicine Physician David Kuppersmith, M.D. will travel to the 2026 Olympic Winter Games in Milano Cortina, Italy, to serve as team physicians for U.S. Ski & Snowboard.

Their involvement carries forward an Olympic legacy established in the 1970s by the late Dr. J. Richard Steadman, whose pioneering work helped shape modern sports medicine and set the standard for medical support within elite winter sports. Dr. Steadman’s first Olympic Games providing medical coverage for the U.S. Ski Team was in 1976, and since then, Steadman physicians have provided coverage for U.S. Ski and Snowboard athletes at 13 consecutive Winter Olympic Games, spanning five decades.

After serving as a U.S. Ski Team physician for more than 25 years, Dr. Viola is making his third consecutive Olympic journey (South Korea in 2018 and Beijing in 2022) and will again lead medical care for the men’s alpine team. Dr. Hackett, who will be working in his fifth straight Winter Games (Vancouver, British Columbia in 2010, Sochi, Russia in 2014, Pyeongchang, South Korea in 2018 and Beijing, China in 2022) is the head physician for the U.S. Snowboard team. Dr. Gill became the U.S. Freestyle Ski team (moguls and aerials) head physician in 2023 and is making his first trip to a Winter Olympics. Dr. Vidal’s role in this, her first Olympic Games, is that of co-head team physician for the women’s alpine ski team. Dr. Kuppersmith returns to the Olympics for his second time as head internal medicine physician for the U.S. Ski & Snowboard teams (Beijing in 2022).

SPRI has maintained a long association with the Olympics and is part of the U.S. Coalition for the Prevention of Illness & Injury in Sport. The Institute is one of just 11 International Research Centres for the Prevention of Injury and Protection of Athlete Health as part of its relationship with the International Olympic Committee (IOC). Recently, SPRI helped sustain a unique training and career development award for IOC researchers through the support from longtime supporter Bjorn Erik Borgen: the 2026 SPRI-Borgen IOC Research Centre Training and Career Development Travel Award.

“It is one of the greatest honors we receive when our outstanding surgeons and physicians are selected to serve as United States team doctors at the Olympic Games,” said Marc J. Philippon, M.D., chairman of SPRI and managing partner of The Steadman Clinic.

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“Our longtime association with Team USA, the USOPC (U.S. Olympic & Paralympic Committee), and especially the U.S. Ski & Snowboard teams has been a part of our great history here in Vail,” continued Dr. Philippon. “I know that our doctors are excited to continue their work with our fine athletes and help them achieve success in Italy this year.”

Dr. Viola has traveled the globe with the U.S. men’s alpine team. “As team doctors, we have the opportunity to utilize new technologies and medical breakthroughs as we treat our elite athletes,” said Dr. Viola. “Knowing that some of the research that led to those innovations came straight from our SPRI labs in Vail is quite rewarding. And we have four Steadman surgeons and an internal medicine physician on this trip—our very own Olympic team. SPRI and The Steadman Clinic are very well represented.”

Dr. Hackett always looks forward to participating at the Games. “Just like the outstanding athletes that have earned the right to represent the U.S. at the Olympics, Drs. Viola, Gill, Vidal, Kuppersmith and I are honored to serve as team physicians,” said Dr. Hackett.

“We are orthopaedic surgeons but most of what we do at these Games is not surgery, it’s advocating for these athletes,” continued Dr. Hackett. “This can be for significant injuries, minor aches and pains — our role is to be present and make sure they get everything they need. We are part of a close-knit team on a special journey to one of the greatest athletic competitions in the world and we all work together for the same goal.”

Dr. Gill approaches his first Winter Games after 21 years serving as a team physician for the men’s and women’s Freestyle teams, and three years serving as the head team physician for the U.S. Freestyle Team (moguls and aerials). “Everyone on our teams has dedicated a lifetime of work toward these upcoming weeks in Milano Livigno,” said Dr. Gill. “And I feel that excitement just as much as the athletes do. I’ve been working with the freestyle teams for over 20 years and through several Olympics, but this is my first time at the Games as head physician. It is a great honor to serve our national team and to represent SPRI and The Steadman Clinic on a global stage.”

Dr. Vidal is also making her first Olympic trek as a team doctor. “When I was young and first knew that I wanted to be in sports medicine and be a team doctor, I dreamed of getting an opportunity such as this,” said Dr. Vidal recalling her youth in Colorado as a Denver Broncos and John Elway fan. “The U.S. women’s alpine team will be one of the most notable groups at these Games, led by Mikaela Shiffrin, Paula Moltzan and Linsdey Vonn, and it will be my honor to be working with them as they and their teammates go for the gold.”

Dr. Kuppersmith will work with all the U.S. Ski & Snowboard teams and will focus on the internal medical needs of the athletes. “It is a great honor as a physician to be entrusted to serve as a team doctor at the Olympic Games,” said Dr. Kuppersmith. “I look forward to traveling to Bormio to provide direct coverage for the U.S. Men’s Alpine Tech Team (slalom and giant slalom), and it’s an honor to cover our local athlete River Radmus at the Games. To have this opportunity for a second straight Winter Games and to travel and work alongside my talented colleagues from The Steadman Clinic and SPRI will make it even more memorable.”