Sport & Exercise Medicine in Switzerland (SEMS) turns 75

Abstract

‘Learn from yesterday, live for today, hope for tomorrow. The important thing is not to stop questioning’ (Albert Einstein). On 14 and 15 November 2024, Sport and Exercise Medicine in Switzerland (SEMS) will host a special SEMS annual meeting, celebrating 75 years of sports medicine in Switzerland. While we all consider SEM a young specialty, one that is still not recognised as a full medical specialty in many countries around the world (including Switzerland), we also must acknowledge the trailblazing efforts of European countries at the start of the 20th century to bring SEM to life. In 1928, Switzerland hosted the St Moritz Winter Olympic Games. The event gave the impetus to the reunion of pioneers from 11 European countries, which led to the formation of the ‘Association Internationale Médico-Sportive’ (AIMS; today Fédération Internationale de Médecine du Sport or FIMS), with a Swiss as its first President. It would, however, take 20 or more years for most countries to develop national organised SEM societies, due to the troubled 1930s and 1940s. As we look back …