A/Prof Jeroen Swart

Associate Professor

Research Thrusts

  • Sports Performance
  • Biomechanics of human movement
  • Physical activity and health
  • Sport & Exercise related injuries

Academic Qualifications

  • MBCHB (UCT 1998)
  • MPhil (Sports & Exercise Medicine) (UCT 2007)
  • PhD (Exercise Science) (UCT 2012)

Bio

Associate Professor Swart is a Sports Physician and Exercise Scientist based at the University of Cape Town and at the Sports Science Institute of South Africa where he is the programme director for Sports and Exercise Medicine postgraduate teaching, research and clinical services.

He is a founding member and director of the Cape Sports Medicine Group, the largest provider of Clinical Sports Medicine services on the African Continent and the affiliated post graduate teaching center for the University of Cape Town.

He is one of 7 members of the International Sports Medicine Federation (FIMS) Global Scientific committee and was the chair of The South African Sports Confederation and Olympic Committee (SASCOC) Scientific commission in the 4 year cycle leading to the planned 2020 Olympics.

The HPALS research unit and affiliated clinical Sports Medicine Practice are recognised as one of 26 global collaborating centers of excellence by the International Sports Medicine Federation (FIMS) for their excellence in research and clinical expertise in this field. Professor Swart is the director of this collaborating center.

He has published extensively in the field of cycling, covering topics from the validity and accuracy of performance testing to cycling biomechanics and load monitoring. Additional research interests include the nature of fatigue in which he completed his PhD titled “Perceptual cues in the regulation of endurance exercise”, injury prevention in sport, and medical conditions specific to sport and exercise.

In recognition of his scientific expertise he has regularly been approached to provide expertise to global icons in the sport of cycling, such as Tour de France winners Jan Ulrich, Chris Froome and Tadej Pogacar amongst many others and represented South Africa at the 2012 London Olympic Games as the coach for cycling.

As the medical director for UAE Team Emirates World Tour Cycling, currently one of the top 3 teams in World Cycling and winner of the 2020 and 2021 Tour De France, he is responsible for a number of important components. These include the overall management of the medical team, nutrition, biomechanics, strength and conditioning and the monitoring of training load and fatigue.

Positions

  • International Sports Medicine Federation – Scientific Committee Member
  • International Sports Medicine Federation – Collaborating Center of Sports Medicine Director
  • UAE Team Emirates – Medical Director

Research Output

Peer reviewed Publication Number: 54

NRF rating: C2

Scopus H-index: 21

Google H-index: 22

Google Scholar link or ORCID link

https://scholar.google.com/citations?hl=en&user=kwYOX0UAAAAJ

International and national research collaborations

  • Athlete Heart Health Project – Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam and VU Medical Center / Cape Radiology
  • Anti-doping Research Project – Arizona State University / South African Institute for Drug Free Sport
  • Sports Performance Technology Research – Group 42 Unites Arab Emirates

Recent and noteworthy publications

Pigozzi F, Wolfarth B, Cintron Rodriguez CV, Steinacker JM, Badtieva V, Bilzon J, Schneider C, Roberts WO, Swart J, Constantinou D, Dohi M, Papadopoulou T, Hutchinson MR, Di Luigi L, Zahar M, So R, Guppy F, Jean-François K, Madahapola U, Rozenstoka S, Manonelles Marqueta P, Casajus JA, Racinais S, Natsis K, Zelenkova I, Ulkar B, Ozdemir E, Arroyo F, Pedrinelli A, Miller M, Bachl N, Geistlinger M, Pitsiladis Y. Protecting Olympic Participants from Covid-19 — The Trialed and Tested Process. Brit J Sport Med (Accepted July 2021)

J. Swart, X. Bigard, T. Fladischer, R. Palfreeman, H. Riepenhof, N.Jones. N. Heron. Harrogate consensus agreement - CYCLING-SPECIFIC SPORT RELATED CONCUSSION. Sports Medicine and Health Science. Accepted May 2021

B. Hamilton‎, G. Lima, J. Barrett, L. Seal, A. Kolliari-Turner, G. Wang‎, A. Karanikolou, X. Bigard, H. Löllgen, P. Zupet, A. Ionescu, A. Debruyne, N. Jones, K. Vonbank, F. Fagnani, C. Fossati, M. Casasco, D. Constantinou, B. Wolfarth, D. Niederseer, A. Bosch, B. Muniz-Pardos, J.A Casajus, C. Schneider, S. Loland, M. Verroken, P.M. Marqueta, F. Arroyo, A. Pedrinelli, K. Natsis, E. Verhagen, W.O. Roberts, J.K. Lazzoli, R. Friedman, A. Erdogan, A.V. Cintron7, S.P. Yung, D.C. Janse van Rensburg, D.A. Ramagole, S. Rozenstoka, F. Drummond, T. Papadopoulou, P.Y.O. Kumi, R. Twycross-Lewis, J. Harper, V. Skiadas, J. Shurlock, K. Tanisawa, J. Seto, K. North, S.S. Angadi, M.J. Martinez-Patiño, M. Borjesson, L. Di Luigi, M. Dohi, J. Swart, J.L.J. Bilzon, V. Badtieva, I. Zelenkova, J.M. Steinacker, N. Bachl, F. Pigozzi, M. Geistlinger, D.G. Goulis, F. Guppy, N. Webborn, B.O. Yildiz, M.Miller, P. Singleton, Y.P. Pitsiladis. Challenges and further steps to integrate athletes with disorders of sex development (DSD) and transgender athletes into elite competition: the FIMS 2020 consensus statement. Sports Medicine. Accepted February 2021.

W. Holliday, J. Fisher and J. Swart. Performance variables relative to freely chosen bicycle configuration and flexibility. Journal of Science and Medicine in Sport. (2020). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jsams.2020.09.015

Löllgen, H. Bachl, N. Papadopoulou, T. Shafik, A. Holloway, G. Vonbank, K. Jones, N., Bigard,, X.  Niederseer, D. Meyer, J. Muniz-Pardos, B.  Debruyne, A. Zupet, P. Steinacker, J.M. Wolfarth, B. Bilzon, J.L. Ionescu, A. Dohi, M. Swart, J.  Badtieva, V. Zelenkova, I. Casasco, M. Geistlinger, M. Di Luigi, L. Webborn, N. Singleton,  Miller, M.P. Pigozzi, F.  Pitsiladis, Y.P. Infographic. Clinical recommendations for return to play during the COVID-19 pandemic. British Journal of Sports Medicine. (2020). http://dx.doi.org/10.1136/bjsports-2020-102985

J. Swart & W. Holliday. Cycling biomechanics optimisation - The (R)evolution of bicycle fitting. Current Sports Medicine Reports. 18(12):490-496 (2019)

W. Holliday, J. Fisher, R. Theo and J. Swart. Cycling: Joint kinematics and muscle activity during differing intensities. Sports Biomechanics. 2: 1-15 (2019). doi: 10.1080/14763141.2019.1640279.

W. Holliday, J. Fisher, J. Salzwedel, R. McDonald and J. Swart. The effects of relative cycling intensity on saddle pressure indexes. Journal of Science and Medicine in Sport. 22 (10): 1097-1101 (2019)

A St Clair Gibson, R Tucker, J Swart. The Interaction of Psychological and Physiological Homeostatic Drives and the Role of General Control Principles in the Regulation of Physiological Systems and Exercise Activity – The Integrative Governor Theory. European Journal of Sports Science. 18 (1): 25-36 (2018)

P Bell,  M Furber, K van Someren, A Antón-Solanas, J Swart.  The physiological profile of a multiple Tour de France winning cyclist. MSSE. 49(10): 115-123 (2017)

Grants and funding

Title of project/ award

Grant source

Amount of Funding

Own Role

Detection of doping using ocular-motor deception

South African Institute for Drug Free Sport Research Grant

R 312 000

Lead researcher and PhD Supervisor

A pragmatic evaluation of the Qhubeka bicycle on an adolescent’s physiology, executive function and school performance

The Bicycle Empowerment Network and Qhubeka Charity

R220 000

Lead researcher  and MSc Supervisor

The prevalence of focal and interstitial atrial and myocardial scar in South African endurance athletes

Equipment and services donated by Philips South Africa and Cape Radiology. Cash donation by Siemens SA

Donations in services and equipment from Philips South Africa and Cape Radiology

> R 500 000

Cash donation from Siemens – R100 000

Lead researcher and MPhil Supervisor

Dynamic kinematics in cycling – Normative data and load related changes

FHS Equipment grant

FHS Equipment grant – R 100 000

Lead Researcher

Cycling Biomechanics Research group

NRF scares skills doctoral scholarship

R110 000

Lead Researcher

Awards

  • National Research Foundation – C2 rating – December 2019
  • FIMS Fellowship – January 2020
  • American Orthopaedic Society for Sports Medicine Sisk award – Best international paper 2019