Faster, higher … hotter: Why some Olympians fear a Paris heatwave could be fatal
When Rhydian Cowley looks back at his collapse in the 35-kilometre racewalk at last year’s World Athletics Championships in Budapest, he can see how frightening his case of heatstroke was, and how lucky he is to still be competing.
As a legitimate medal hope for his country at the Paris Games – now less than a month away – Cowley has one eye nervously watching the weather forecasts.
SAPPORO, JAPAN - AUGUST 06: Rhydian Cowley of Team Australia competes in the Men's 50km Race Walk Final on day fourteen of the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games at Sapporo Odori Park on August 06, 2021 in Sapporo, Japan. (Photo by Clive Brunskill/Getty Images)Credit: Getty
“The 20-kilometre race, which was the first day, that went really well, and then a few days later, I raced in the 35-kilometre race and I didn’t finish because I collapsed from the heatstroke,” said Cowley, who placed eighth at the Tokyo Games in the men’s 50-kilometre walk.
“Looking back a bit, that’s really quite, quite frightening.”
A few weeks after Cowley returned to Australia, he had a panic attack, which he claims was likely related to the stress the event had on his body.
“I needed to take it really, really carefully in getting back to training after that, and I’m lucky this time, I haven’t had any lingering effects that have lasted months or years,” he said.
“[But I know] that there are other athletes that have had much longer-term impacts of heat stroke happening to them. So I consider myself lucky.”
Cowley is one of almost a dozen current and former Olympic athletes that are concerned that the intense heat at the coming Paris Olympics – expected to be the hottest on record – could lead to competitors collapsing, or in worst-case scenarios, dying.
Finish the match or die?
A new report, Rings of Fire: Heat Risks at the 2024 Paris Olympics by the British Association for Sustainable Sport (BASIS) and Australian sports advocacy group FrontRunners details concerns some athletes have about the potential effects of extreme heat, including risks of heat cramps, heat exhaustion and heat stroke.
The Tokyo Olympics, held in 2021, were the hottest Games to date, with temperatures rising above 34 degrees and humidity reaching 70 per cent.
In Tokyo, Russian tennis star, and the Games’ number-two seed, Daniil Medvedev took a series of medical timeouts in his match against Italy’s Fabio Fognini. The temperature rose to 31 degrees, but the heat index made it feel like 37 degrees.
When asked by the umpire if he was able to continue during the second set, Medvedev, said “I can finish the match but I can die. If I die, are you going to be responsible?”
The same day, Spanish player Paula Badosa had to retire from her quarter-final against Marketa Vondrousova due to heatstroke.
Daniil Medvedev receives medical attention during the Tokyo Games.Credit: Getty
The forecast for Paris during the Olympics is not yet known. However, some parts of Europe have already experienced temperatures above 40 degrees this year, and in 2022, France recorded a lengthy heatwave with maximum temperatures of 36 degrees during the Olympic period.
The city’s highest temperature of 42.6 degrees was recorded at the end of July in 2019, and the national weather service, Meteo France, has predicted the July-to-August period will be “warmer than normal conditions” for that time of year.
In the report World Athletics president Sebastian Coe said the consequences of high temperatures can be “varied and wide-ranging” for competitors, including smaller issues that can affect performance, such as sleep disruption and last-minute changes to event timings, to larger medical concerns, including heat-related stress and injury.
The weather could also pose a risk to the public, with millions expected to attend the Games as spectators, along with 31,500 volunteers.
The August 2003 heatwave in France claimed the lives of 15,000 people in a fortnight, and resulted in the hottest summer recorded in Europe since 1540.
The summer heat was a factor when the Tour de France started in Italy on Saturday, with the temperature soaring to 36C.
Former champion Mark Cavendish was among those to feel the effects, vomiting twice on his way to finishing 174th of 175 riders to finish the stage.
Faster, higher, stronger ... hotter
Handling testing conditions has always been part of the challenge for Olympians and the theatre for those watching the Games, but Cowley said extreme weather put athletes at genuine risk and reduced some of the interest in some contests.
Rhydian Cowley racewalking for Australia at 2022’s Birmingham Commonwealth Games.Credit: Getty Images
He said at the 2019 World Championships in Doha one race started at midnight to account for the heat, but it was still like “racing in a sauna”.
“And as a result, the races were really slow, and I think probably a little bit less interesting to spectators … but also in the back of your mind as the spectator, you’re kind of worrying about the health and wellbeing of the athletes,” said Cowley.
Australian long jumper Lizzie Hedding said extreme weather often reduced the chances of athletes performing at their best, which is supposed to be the drawcard of the Olympics.
“We could watch who’s the fastest man to run 100 metres knee-deep in snow, that would be battling the conditions,” she said, reasoning that in track and field events, and many other sports, spectators want to see “magic barriers” broken.
“I do think that that high-performance aspect, in terms of the ability to run a certain time or whatever it is, is very exciting,” she said. “We certainly diminish the ability to see those kinds of records and things continue to happen if we’re battling the conditions as well.”
To aircondition or not?
The Paris Games have a focus on sustainability, with a goal of cutting the event’s emissions by half, compared to previous Summer Olympics.
Organisers aim to do this by using renewable energy sources where possible and eco-friendly strategies, such as not having airconditioning in athletes’ rooms, instead relying on natural airflow cooling and an underground water-cooling system.
In response to this, Australia, Germany, Italy, Canada, Britain and the US have all been reported to be supplying airconditioners for their Olympic teams.
Spain’s Paula Badosa is helped off the court in a wheelchair in Tokyo.Credit: AP
A spokesperson for the Australian Olympic Committee said the team was aware of the expected conditions and had been working on heat-mitigation strategies with leading experts in the field.
“Ultimately, our aim has been to give athletes choices based on the conditions and their programs,” the AOC spokesperson said.
“In satellite locations, our strategies will differ depending on the type of accommodation, and that includes fans, blackout shutters and air-flow plans. We have looked at the detail of how that will work at each location in our discussion with each sport.
“Acclimatisation is also important with athletes preparing in a range of European locations prior to the Games.”
In a statement, the International Olympic Committee said the health and wellbeing of athletes were always at the heart of its concerns.
“The IOC takes concerns about heat very seriously. A wide range of measures are being taken by the Paris 2024 Organising Committee in consultation with the IOC and the International Federations to mitigate the effects of the temperatures which may occur this summer,” the statement read.
Practical measures to protect athletes at these Games suggested by FrontRunners CEO Emma Pocock include scheduling that avoids the hottest times of the day and allows for athletes to recover and prepare for each event they compete in, and the provision of sufficient recovery facilities.
She said there also needed to be medical staff on hand, “so that if things do go wrong, they can respond really swiftly”.
“It’s great to see Lord Sebastian Coe and General Jackson Tuwei, the president of Athletics Kenya, included in the report, but there is a big gap there, which leaves athletes very vulnerable because they don’t feel like they can speak up,” she said.
“Various other governing bodies that are involved can play [a role] in leading this conversation and really making it easier for athletes to talk about their experience of training and competing in extreme heat.”
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