How climate change threatens sports

While Paris is unlikely to experience extreme temperatures this year, uncomfortable conditions for spectators and impaired performance by athletes and officials are still concerns

Climate change is already impacting all aspects of human life and nature, including sports and the performance of athletes. Driven by human-caused climate change and the natural El Niño weather event, 2023 was the hottest year on record, which could be surpassed in 2024. The last few months have broken all records. For example, June 2024 was the hottest June since records began. Europe, in particular, has experienced more heatwaves than other regions, and the 2024 Olympics are scheduled in Paris from today to August 11. This record global warming has contributed to many other extreme weather events across the globe, such as heat waves, wildfires, prolonged droughts, and flooding. 

There are concerns about the potential impact of any heat wave during the Olympics. Studies show that any outdoor sports activity during heat stress events can be detrimental to the human body. The Olympics are all about breaking records on human ability to excel and break barriers: to run and swim faster, to jump higher and longer, to score more goals, and so on. Most summer Olympics sports events are held in the open, especially the most popular athletic events such as 100-metre sprints and marathon running, apart from football and hockey. 

Participation in the Olympics is not just the four weeks in Paris but also weeks and months of practice in athletes’ home countries. The last few months have seen record warm days around the world, potentially impacting the preparation of athletes for the Olympics. The Olympic associations of wealthy countries may support athletes by helping them prepare in ideal weather conditions by sending them to other cities and even countries. For example, some athletes are practicing in Europe. Athletes from poorer countries may not have such a luxury. For example, Delhi and even Bengaluru experienced extreme hot weather during May and June this year, adversely impacting the preparation of athletes for the Paris Olympics. 

In general, higher outdoor temperatures are expected to cause increased stress on the cardiovascular, respiratory, and metabolic systems. People who exercise in hot conditions are thus exposed to heat stress, which can jeopardise their health. Hot environmental conditions result from the mean skin temperature, the mean radiant temperature, the air temperature, the air velocity over the body, the saturated vapour pressure at skin temperature, and the ambient vapour pressure. Heat stress not only affects outdoor sports (e.g., football, rugby, hockey, athletics, cricket, and tennis) but also those who exercise indoors if they have to train in insufficiently air-conditioned, overheated sports halls and gyms. The human body gets acclimatised to such thermo-physiological stress by increasing plasma volume and sweat rate and starting to produce sweat earlier. The more intense the workout, the more heat the body produces, making it difficult for the body to cool down or stay within safe parameters. High temperatures, accompanied by high humidity, make it worse for sportspeople. 

A report by the British Association for Sustainable Sport on Rings of Fire: Heat Risk at the 2024 Paris Olympics highlights the dangers of potential heat stress and solutions. The report states that the 2021 Tokyo Olympics offered a window into an alarming, escalating norm for the Summer Olympics. As temperatures rose to over 34 degrees Celsius and humidity reached almost 70%, the Games in Japan went on to become “the hottest in history,” with conditions described as “torturous.” Competitors vomited and fainted at finish lines; wheelchairs were deployed to carry athletes away from sun-scorched arenas. A deadly heat wave in the summer of 2003 killed more than 14,000 people in France. Most of the deaths were reported in Paris, despite having one of the best healthcare systems in the world. At that time, the maximum temperature recorded in Paris was 39.5 degrees Celsius. Fortunately, such high temperatures are unlikely this year during the Olympics in Paris. 

Even if the health of the athletes is not threatened, the overall experience will be diminished by uncomfortable conditions for spectators and impaired performance by athletes and officials. In the event of prolonged heat stress, some measures that can be adopted include conducting sports and training activities during morning or evening hours; adjusting the scope of training; regular intake of fluids before, during, and after activity; wearing breathable clothing; taking breaks from all sporting activities in the event of gastrointestinal illness; and avoiding alcohol and medication that affect the body’s electrolyte balance. 

Another aspect of the Olympics is its contribution to carbon dioxide emissions from large-scale construction of stadiums and staying facilities, air travel, air conditioning, food provision, etc. The organisers aim to align the Paris Olympics 2024 with the Paris Agreement by halving greenhouse gas emissions and offsetting any residual emissions to achieve carbon neutrality. Plans include powering the Athlete’s Village with geothermal and solar energy, planting trees, and doubling the amount of plant-based food served at the event. Reducing transportation-related emissions will be a big challenge for the Paris Olympics. Tourism officials expect 15.3 million visitors for the Olympics and Paralympics, including 1.9 million from outside France, with at least 850,000 taking long-haul flights.

A similar report on cricket titled Hit for a Six by the British Association for Sustainable Sport concluded that in the coming years, more cricket games will be postponed, rearranged to cooler times of the day or season, and will witness poorer performance due to heat-induced cognitive deterioration, an increased likelihood of heat exhaustion and other heat illnesses, and an increased likelihood of heat stroke, resulting in the need for medical intervention. Not only the cricket players but even the spectators will be exposed to higher temperatures and more direct sunlight, increasing the chance of hyperthermia, fainting, and sunburn.

To conclude, Sebastian Coe, President of the World Athletics, warns that “with global temperatures continuing to rise, climate change should increasingly be viewed as an existential threat to sport.”

(The writer is a retired professor of Indian Institute of Science, an IPCC
author and climate change expert)