The Paris Olympics could be the hottest Games on record, as leading athletes have already warned that the intense heat forecast for competition could lead to athletes collapsing or – in a worst-case scenario – dying in competition.
A new report, titled Rings of Fire: Heat Risks at the 2024 Paris Olympics, argues the 2021 games held in Tokyo “offered a window into an alarming, escalating norm for Summer Olympics”. With temperatures above 34C and humidity approaching 70%, the Games were described as “the hottest in history”.
“Competitors vomited and fainted at finish lines, wheelchairs were deployed to carry athletes away from sun-scorched arenas and the fear of dying on court was even raised mid-match by the Tokyo Games’ No 2 seeded tennis player Daniil Medvedev,” the report says.
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Inaction on climate change and the continued rate of fossil fuel use has caused the world to warm further in the three years since, and cases of extreme heat jeopardising and undermining sporting events has only increased.
“We now know the Paris Games have the potential to surpass [Tokyo’s heat record],” Emma Pocock, the chief executive of FrontRunners, one of the organisations behind the report said, “with climate change driven by the burning of fossil fuels contributing to record heat streaks during the past months.”
Pocock described the Rings of Fire report as a “stake in the ground”, and an urgent call to sport governing bodies to take action on global heating.
“If the planet continues to warm, sports as we know and love are at risk.”
Since 1924, when Paris last hosted the Olympics, annual temperatures in the French capital have warmed by 1.8C while, on average, there are 23 more “hot” days (25C+) and nine more “scorching” (30C+) days a year.
Paris has experienced 50 heatwaves since 1947, and they have been increasing in frequency and intensity as a result of the climate crisis. In 2003 in July and August – the same time as the upcoming Olympics will be held – a record heatwave resulted in more than 14,000 excess deaths in France.
Story was adapted from the Guardian.
