PORTLAND – His work with the Olympics had barely begun, but Dr. Sean Hanley was there for one of its greatest moments.

Hanley had arranged a job through his father and was working at the 1980 Winter Olympics at Lake Placid.

“Although I wasn’t a doctor yet, I helped out at the medical clinic that was situated in the village,” said Hanley, now a physician at the Maine Orthopedic Center in Portland. “I spent a month sort of helping out and doing go-for kind of jobs, but it was great to be there helping the athletic trainers and doctors with a lot of clerical stuff.”

When he wasn’t working, he found time to attend hockey games. Being a college player at Bowdoin, he had followed the progress of the United States team and had even competed against some of its players. When Herb Brooks’ team beat the Soviet Union in that stunning upset and won gold against Finland days later, Hanley was there.

“I had a pass that got me into every event that I wanted to go to,” said Hanley. “I didn’t necessarily have a seat but I had a pass and could get in and stand in the back.

“I went to just about every game they played in 1980, and I was there for the game against the Russians and the game against Finland.”

He has pictures of the game in his office and took great pleasure in sharing memories of the event in the last year when the film “Miracle” sparked interest in the hockey team’s story once again.

“It’s just grown over time,” said Hanley, who coaches youth hockey in the Casco Bay system. “That was one of the most exciting sporting events I’d ever been to. To be able to tell those stories again and tell those kids in the locker room those stories this year, was really a lot of fun.”

His Olympic journey began as a child. When his father was hired as the Olympic physician, Dr. Dan Hanley and wife Maria took their two sons and two daughters to Rome in 1960.

“It was a great experience for our whole family that our father was involved in the Olympic movement,” said Hanley. “The first time he went in 1960, he figured it would be the one time that he would go.”

His father would have a significant presence in the Olympics for the next 20 years and helped lay the groundwork for Sean’s future involvement.

“The Olympic movement is infectious,” he said. “It’s very exciting. It’s different than any other sporting event. Even though people are competitive at the Olympics, it’s not like going to Fenway Park and the Yankees fans are getting booed. It’s a different atmosphere. People are really friendly. They’re excited. They cheer for all the countries. It’s really a unique experience to be part of the Olympics. As a young child to be exposed to that was very special.”

In 1968, his brothers and sisters were all in college, but Sean took time off from school to join his father at the games in Mexico City. That experience cemented his future aspirations.

Hanley began working toward a career in medicine. He was finishing up his orthopedic residency when he got the job in Lake Placid. He later volunteered with the USOC and was chosen to work at their training center.

He worked at the Olympic Festival in St. Louis as a doctor and went to the Pan American Games in Argentina in 1995. He was then chosen as one of the doctors to work at the Atlanta Games in 1996.

He took six weeks off from his practice to work with the men’s soccer team.

A team doctor might have little to do if athletes remained healthy or he might have to quickly stitch up a player at halftime with a coach breathing down his neck. In Atlanta there were also significant concerns about heat-related issues.

“It was sort of high stress because we were worried about the heat,” said Hanley. “We were worried about heat stroke and performance for endurance athletes. So we spent a lot of time not only educating ourselves, but also trying to educate athletes as to what they needed to do to hydrate themselves.”

The Olympics can be an intense atmosphere that challenges doctors. Though Hanley has been part of the experience since he was a child, it never grew tiresome.

“It always gets your adrenaline going,” said Hanley.

He’s been involved with USA Hockey, but hasn’t been back to the Olympics since Atlanta. Every four years when the Olympics come around, he can’t help but get caught up in the excitement all over again.

“A lot of my patients know that I was involved,” he said. “They all get excited. So every couple of years you can’t help but miss it and wish you were involved in it again.”