Content area
Full Text
HOW THE GAMES HAVE SHAPED RESEARCH
Whether it's drug scandals, pollution problems or sheer curiosity at the incredible capabilities of the athletes, the Olympic Games have long fascinated researchers as well as the general public.
In recent decades, research has increased on the selection of Olympic sites, environmental issues and the Games' ability to encourage people to participate in sport, says sports-medicine specialist Lars Engebretsen, who heads science and research for the International Olympic Committee.
The Olympics don't typically inspire researchers to start new fields - instead, they tend to feed into ongoing studies, says Vanessa Heggie, a historian of science and sports medicine at the University of Birmingham, UK.
As the 2016 summer Games kick off in Rio de Janeiro, Nature uses bibliometrics to provide insight into the who, where, what, how and why of Olympic science.
METHODOLOGY
Using...