This Team USA Athlete Is Going Viral for Documenting Her Free Healthcare at the Olympic Village

Rugby player Ariana Ramsey has gotten a pap smear, an eye exam, a new pair of glasses and a dental checkup at the Olympic Village

<p>Kristy Sparow/Getty</p> Ariana Ramsey on July 31, 2024

Kristy Sparow/Getty

Ariana Ramsey on July 31, 2024

After winning a bronze medal at the Paris Summer Olympics for women’s rugby sevens on Tuesday, July 30, Ariana Ramsey stuck around in Paris to take in the sights, watch other athletes compete in events — and also schedule a year’s worth of medical appointments at the free polyclinic in the Olympic Village.

The two-time Olympic athlete chronicled her experience on TikTok and explained her shock at finding out all athletes have free healthcare while competing during the Summer Games.

“Not only in the Village do we have free food but we have free dental, free healthcare,” Ramsey, 24, revealed to her followers in a clip posted on TikTok, which she captioned: "I quite literally love it here. The way the Olympic village has free healthcare."

In the video, she added, “I literally just got a pap smear for free and I have a dentist appointment and an eye exam next week. Like what?” 

In another TikTok video, Ramsey shared she got a free new pair of glasses following her eye exam. “I have 20/20 vision but they gave me glasses because I told her my vision gets blurry sometimes. So now I have glasses,” she said while showing off her new frames.

All in all, Ramsey says she has gotten a pap smear, an eye exam, a new pair of glasses and a dental checkup while staying at the Olympic Village.

Per Olympics.com, the Olympic Village accommodates 14,250 athletes during the Olympic Games and 8,000 during the Paralympic Games.

"According to the Paris 2024 organizing committee, the Village also offers cardiology, orthopedics, physiotherapy, psychology, podiatry and, of course, sports medicine—all at no cost to the athletes," Sports Illustrated reported, adding that Paraolympians will also have access to dermatologists once they move into the space next week.

The outlet also reported that the Olympic Village has offered athletes and their delegations free healthcare since the 1932 Los Angeles Games, even though many are unaware they have access to such facilities. The Olympic polyclinic can handle as many as 700 patient visits per day.

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PEOPLE reached out to Team USA's Olympic Village for more information about U.S. athletes' access to the healthcare options available at the accommodations.

While speaking to PEOPLE, Team USA's Olympic Village Director Daniel Smith said that American athletes "have a full sports med clinic with 22 providers, massage therapy, cold tubs, the works."

He added there is an athlete resource center, which "provides a lot of resources as well to athletes around mental health. We have mental health providers in-house. We have sport dieticians in-house who're making smoothies and providing all types of dietary, nutritional supplements to athletes."

Related: Everything to Know About the Food Served in the Olympic Village

Ramseys' original video, meanwhile, gained 140k views and was picked up by local French news outlets. In another update, she said her eye doctor recognized her from her TikTok and many of the medical staffers thanked her for bringing awareness to the facilities at the Village. 

She has since gotten messages from other athletes who didn’t know about the free healthcare offered and said that her videos encouraged them to visit the polyclinic. She has since changed her TikTok bio to describe herself as a "Universal Free Healthcare Advocate😁."

“The fact that I am so excited to be getting free dental is crazy,” Ramsey said in a follow-up video. “This is going to be my new fight for action — free healthcare in America.”

Elsewhere on TikTok, Ramsey shared her appreciation for the medical access. "Shout out to the healthcare workers in the Olympic Village. You guys are amazing and we thank you so much for your service," she captioned a clip of her appearing alongside some of the medical employees.

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