MURFREESBORO, Tenn. (WKRN) — A Rutherford County doctor is packing her bags and heading to Paris for the assignment of a lifetime: working on the United States medical team for the 2024 Summer Olympics.
For over a decade, Dr. Lydia White has worked as an orthopedic physician specializing in sports medicine at the Tennessee Orthopaedic Alliance (TOA) in Murfreesboro.
Dr. White said she wanted to take her practice and passion of serving others a step further.
"I've been so blessed in my practice," said Dr. White. "I was just really looking for a way to give back."
In her research, she found an application for the Olympic sports medicine delegation.
"I knew it was really competitive, it was a huge honor, and I just decided to apply," said White.
After a rigorous application process and hands-on experience at the Olympic training facility in Colorado, White was selected.
"It was a dream come true, it's really one of the highlights of my career," said White. "I still can't believe this is happening to me."
She'll work with the top athletes from a variety of teams playing for the United States, stationed at clinics within the high performance center and on-site of competitions.
"I'll get to see sort of a behind the scenes look at the Olympics and I'll get to walk through this journey with people that have worked their whole lives for this experience," said White. "I hope that I can be that person for them, for these athletes, that can be an advocate and an ally for them."
Dr. White was born and raised in Tennessee, has degrees from the University of Tennessee and Vanderbilt, and continues to work as the fifth generation to raise horses and cattle on her family's Pelham, Tennessee farm.
"I'm so very honored to be representing my country," said White.
Dr. White said her work right here in the mid-state has prepared her for this global moment.
"There's no higher stakes or greater pressure than operating on your former teachers, or your family members, or the kids of your colleagues. I already operate in sort of this pressure cooker situation and I do it day in and day out, and ultimately, Paris will be the same thing," said White. "There will be people that I'll be treating that mean the world to me and I'll treat them the same as I do the folks back here that mean the world to me."
Dr. White leaves for Paris on Friday, July 19.