Dr Celeste Geertsema

Dr Celeste Geertsema is a South African-born New Zealand sports physician, currently employed at Aspetar and working with the Supreme Committee for Delivery and Legacy on the preparations for the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022. Her special interests are in event cover, football medicine and snow, adventure and multi-sports.

She is a former Chief of Sports Medicine at Aspetar and is currently Assistant Professor of Clinical Medicine at Weill Cornell Medical College.

She has been working in football medicine for the past 20 years, including 7 years as a national team physician, 10 years as FIFA venue medical officer and currently as part of the Host Country team preparing medical services for the FIFA World Cup. She was the first female team physician and first venue medical officer at a senior men’s FIFA World Cup and was CMO at age group FIFA World Cups and the most recent senior Women’s World Cup. She has worked for the IOC at the Olympic Games and provided medical cover at several large international sporting competitions, including the IAAF World Championships, the Handball World Championships, FINA World Cups, IAAF Diamond League events, and WTA and ATP tournaments.

Her snow, adventure and multi-sports experience includes ski patrol doctor for 5 years, New Zealand national team physician at the Winter Olympic Games and the Commonwealth Games, as well as expedition doctor for Mt Aconcagua and Mt Everest expeditions. She is a former medical director for Canoe Racing New Zealand.

She enjoys participating in sports even more than watching it and is passionate about adventure sports in pristine natural environments. She loves skiing, snowboarding, kayaking and kitesurfing, but her biggest personal achievement was to complete a 250km ultra-marathon in the Gobi Desert, one of the most beautiful and remote deserts in the World. She is a qualified PADI Rescue Diver and an amateur underwater photographer.

She passionately supports equal opportunities in sports and medicine, irrespective of sex, gender, race, or cultural background.