Stevenage physiotherapist to lead Team GB’s physios at the 2018 Winter Olympics in South Korea

Team GB physio Nicki Combarro during the 2016 Olympic Games opening ceremony in Rio de Janeiro . Photo: Supplied (Image: Archant)

Nicki Combarro, who lives in Walkern and works at ASK Physio in Stevenage Old Town, was already part of the Team GB physio team at the London 2012 and Rio 2016 games.

Next year she will spend two weeks at Pyeongchang helping our athletes with any aches, pains or injuries they may pick up.

Nicki, 42, told the Comet: “I enjoy sport but I was never going to be good enough to compete at anything more than a recreational level. Therefore being involved as a physiotherapist in elite sport has been a really excited and rewarding career.

“Representing my country and supporting all the Team GB athletes at the Rio Olympics last summer was one of my proudest moments, both professionally and personally.

“Organising the support for the Winter Olympics will be a long process requiring meticulous planning. I am fortunate that in my day job at ASK Physio my friend and boss Sarah Kinsella is really supportive of my time out of the clinic.”

Nicki and Sarah met when they were both students at the University of Hertfordshire in 1993, and they ended up working together as qualified physiotherapists at Stevenage’s Lister Hospital.

Nicki left the Lister in 2001 to work in the sporting field, joining the English Institute of Sport. As well as supporting Britain’s Olympians, she has worked with England’s Commonwealth Games team at Glasgow 2014, Delhi 2010, Melbourne 2006 and Manchester 2002.

Sarah said: “Nicki and I immediately hit it off at university and became good friends. I was delighted when she asked me if there were any vacancies for her to join the team at ASK Physio and we are, of course, very lucky to have her on our team.

“I am incredibly proud of her for what she has achieved, and I feel lucky to work with her and also call her my friend.”

For more see ask-physio.co.uk.