It's wrong to hold a Summer Olympics in Tokyo in late July through early August. The right time for the Summer Games in many climates would be the Fall, but television schedules force the Summer. The combination of temperature and humidity can be dangerous. Endurance events, tennis and beach volleyball take place outdoors and can place athletes and spectators at risk. With Covid Tokyo didn't risk spectators as there weren't any, but some of the events took place in borderline insane conditions. The top Canadian team played one of their matches with a wet bulb globe temperature of about 40° C.1 Sarah texted photos of herself sitting in baths of ice water to bring her core temperature down to safe levels. Four hours at 35° C is considered potentially lethal for a young person in good physical shape. A new standard suggests the limit for any outdoor activity should be about 32° for this cohort and 28°C for anyone over 60, under 8, or anyone with any number of medical conditions
There is a good chance Paris could be worse this year. The Olympic Village is not air conditioned. To meet certain green goals it uses passive geothermal cooling, which is great, but doesn't work well in extreme conditions. Team USA, Canada, Australia and probably many others will install portable air conditioners in athlete housing and indoor training rooms. Spectators are on their own. Paris is not a heat-friendly city.
When you do any kind of physical work like staying alive or exercising, about eighty percent of the energy you take in is converted to heat. Some of that raising your body temperature above the environment around you, the rest is waste heat. A moderately fast bike ride can require about 200 watts so you have 800 watts of waste heat that has to go somewhere. Sarah, in an intense match, averages about hour hundred watts with higher peaks. She has to get rid of two kilowatts. Evaporating liquid water takes quite a bit of energy and our bodies are wonderfully set up to do this. Sweat is your friend. It works well in dry heat, but becomes more difficult as the humidity goes up and impossible when the the wet bulb temperature is above a certain value (in fact trying to use a fan can make matters worse).
One can imagine an event being postposed due to extreme conditions, but the fact that Tokyo had events suggests training your body to sweat better - heat conditioning - makes sense. You can become a better sweaters by making your body to handle electrolytes differently, sweating earlier and more, having more dilute sweat and a few other biochemical tricks that enhance your ability to deal with the heat. One can train in hot and humid areas - places like the American Southeast and parts of Southeast Asia and South Asia. That's not practical for many and not controllable so other techniques have emerged. Some use a stationary bike in a heated chamber, but sauna therapy works as well or better. You sit in a 80° to 90°C sauna for about 45 minutes in 15 minute shifts with 15 minute breaks every day for about two weeks. After that you can maintain an enhanced level doing this two or three times a week. Not fun, but it works. In some events medals may well be decided by who has had better heat preparation.
Much of the rest of the world is on its own dealing with heat. Some are suggesting air conditioning should be a human right. To say there are major challenges is an understatement - one that the first world mostly ignores and will probably continue to ignore until events like two or three day power outages turn off AC in heatwaves.
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1 A wet bulb globe temperature is more detailed than a heat index or "feels like" temperature. It takes into account temperature, humidity, water evaporation and sun exposure. Calibrated instruments start at around $500 and go up so it's generally not reported. Standard "feels like" temperature is an ok starting point and much better than regular temperature for decision making.
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