Winter Olympics future under threat, experts warn

The future of the Winter Olympics is looking bleak, as experts warn a global issue could spell the end for the international event.

The future of the Winter Olympics is looking bleak if carbon emissions aren’t reduced. Picture: Getty Images

Sport sustainability experts have grave fears for the future of winter sport events including the Olympics if carbon emissions aren’t reduced across a global scale.

In an attempt to go green, natural CO2 refrigeration systems are being used to cool down solar-powered venues at the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics.

Renting equipment, reusing old venues and the introduction of low-energy technologies are some of the methods the International Olympic Committee (IOC) is using in their attempt to put the planet first.

It all comes down to the Games’ mission statement to “deliver a fantastic, extraordinary and excellent Beijing 2022 Games, which is green, inclusive, open and clean”.

The future of the Winter Olympics is being challenged by climate change. Picture: Instagram

But the Committee’s sustainability pledge doesn’t come without scepticism from sustainable sport experts questioning whether it’s a smokescreen to minimise the severity climate change has on the future of winter sports.

“Carbon offsets are the easy solution,” Dr Greg Dingle, a lecturer in sport management and an associate of the centre for sport and social impact at La Trobe University told news.com.au.

“However, the games themselves are being challenged by climate change in ways that haven’t been addressed.”

Scientists believe that by 2050 only half of the 21 venues previously used to host the Winter Olympic Games will have suitable natural snowfall levels to host an event.

According to a collaborative report, Norway, France and Austria are among the countries now deemed “high risk” and unsuitable to host future winter sport events.

Meanwhile, Vancouver, Sochi and Squaw Valley in the US are now considered “unreliable”.

“The number of mountains around the world that are able to sustain the Olympics is shrinking,” Dr Dingle said.

The collaborative report Slippery Slopes: How Climate Change is threatening the 2022 Winter Olympics has found that the global climate emergency is also testing the safety of athletes participating in winter sports, particularly those requiring snow.

Beijing, being a low altitude city, is strongly relying on snow-making machines on an industrial scale to dress the part.

But these machines use 79 Olympic-sized pools worth of water to produce artificial snow that is shaping up to be dangerous turf for competing skiers, snowboarders and bobsledders.

“(If) freestyle super pipes are formed from snow-making machines in a poor (natural snow) season, the walls of the pipe are solid, vertical ice and the pipe floor is solid ice,” Scottish freestyle skier Ms Laura Donaldson said in the report.

By 2050 only half of the 21 venues previously used to host the Winter Olympic Games will have suitable natural snowfall levels to host an event. Picture: AFP

“This is dangerous for athletes, some have died,” Donaldson said.

Such risky conditions have become the unfortunate reality for many winter athletes as global warming continues to threaten winter sports.

Three-time Olympian in snowboard half-pipe and Protect Our Winters UK ambassador Lesley McKenna is alarmed by the changes in the snowpack in ski resorts over the winters, especially in glacier conditions.

“I have cherished the last three decades in snow sports but I harbour mounting fears for where we could be in another 30 years’ time,” McKenna said.

Originally published as Winter Olympics future under threat, experts warn