Geertsema Trailblazer

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www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid= - [Cached Version]Published on: 5/1/2010 Last Visited: 5/1/2010
The All Whites' doctor, Celeste Geertsema, will make World Cup history next month.
The Auckland sports medicine specialist has been told she will be the first female team doctor to attend the soccer World Cup finals, which have been played since 1930.
The validity of this is hard to check, but Fifa's chief medical officer, Jiri Dvorak, informed Dr Geertsema of her trailblazing status. ...
Dr Geertsema and her Christchurch-based identical twin sister Liesel, also a sports doctor, arrived in New Zealand in the mid-1990s.
Celeste Geertsema has been the All Whites' doctor since 2003 and says being a woman only proved troublesome in her opening assignment when the All Whites played Iran in Tehran. Women were not even allowed to attend the match as spectators so special permission was needed from the Iranian authorities.
"It really was a big deal," she recalls. "To have a woman doctor in the changing rooms blew the cultural expectations.
I think there was only one other woman in the whole stadium - a press liaison officer."
Dr Geertsema said playing at altitude would be a major factor at the World Cup but the All Whites' preparation, including a camp in Austria, would take care of that.