In June 2008, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) Medical Commission Chairman, Professor Arne Ljungqvist, wrote a BJSM editorial related to the 2nd World Congress on Sports Injury Prevention.1 In this, he announced their intentions to organise a 3rd World Congress on ‘prevention of sports-related injuries and disorders’ under the auspices of the IOC in 2011. This is now reality. The IOC World Conference on Prevention of Injury and Illness in Sport takes place in Monaco, 7–9 April 2011, and in this issue you can enjoy the conference abstracts (see page 310).

The inaugural World Congress on Sports Injury Prevention was organised by the Oslo Sports Trauma Research Centre at the Holmenkollen Park Hotel in Oslo, Norway, in June 2005. During three beautiful midsummer days, more than 500 delegates gathered for the first time to focus on how sports injuries may be prevented. This was a hallmark event, signifying a significant shift in interest from a treatment focus towards prevention.

Three years later the second congress attracted over 700 participants from 55 counties, this time in Tromsø, Norway. Although the weather well above the Arctic Circle was somewhat cooler, the second congress followed the successful format of the first, with a multidisciplinary perspective on sports injury prevention. The congress had been firmly established as a venue for scientists and practitioners to share new research and discuss the potential for prevention across injury types …