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Before the pandemic, heatstroke was the biggest risk for athletes at the Tokyo Olympics, but in the first week of the Games, the heat was made worse by humidity values ranging from 66% to 84%, which makes the sensation much hotter and limits the body’s ability to cool itself through sweat and evaporation.
“When you take into account not only the temperature, but also the humidity, I would say that a summer in Tokyo is the worst in the history of the Olympic Games,” said Makoto Yokohari, professor of environment and town planning at the University of Tokyo and advisor to Tokyo 2020, who spoke to CNN ahead of the start of the Games.
During the Olympics it is often 90 degrees or more, but with humidity it can look like triple digits. More than 1,000 deaths were recorded as a result of the 2018 heatwave in the country. This year, from July 19 to 25, more than 8,000 people were hospitalized for possible heat stroke.
The International Olympic Committee said it had taken precautions to deal with the heat, providing water and shade at the venues. In a statement to CNN, he said the health of athletes is “at the heart of our concerns.”
In 2019, organizers moved the marathon to Sapporo to avoid the oppressive Tokyo weather. But athletes from other sports are already struggling in sunny Tokyo.
Last week, Russian archer Svetlana Gomboeva was treated for heat exhaustion when temperatures hit over 90 degrees that day. Russian tennis player Daniil Medvedev was visibly struggling in the heat on Wednesday.
When the referee asked him if he could continue playing, he replied, “I’m a fighter, I’m going to finish the game, but I can die.” He later added that he “couldn’t breathe properly. I think it was the wettest day we’ve had so far.”
On the same day, Spain’s Paula Badosa was forced to abandon her match due to heatstroke and was escorted off the pitch in a wheelchair.
“It was a shame to end my participation in this way,” Badosa said in comments posted on Tokyo 2020. “The conditions were demanding from day one, we tried to adapt as best we could, but today ‘ the body did not resist as it should. ”
A word of warning
Tennis star Novak Djokovic called the playing conditions “brutal” after his first round match.
“I have been playing tennis professionally for 20 years, and I have never faced these kinds of conditions in my entire life on a consecutive daily basis,” Djokovic said in comments posted by Tokyo 2020.
The International Tennis Federation has an emergency weather policy that offers athletes two 10-minute breaks when temperatures reach dangerous levels and on Wednesday announced that matches would start later today.
Natsue Koikawa knows all too well the risk of competing in the heat. A former professional runner, she passed out during a 1995 marathon in Japan and almost died.
“Heat stroke can happen to anyone and it is a very common cause of death,” Koikawa warns.
It took her over a year and a half to recover and she never returned to a major marathon again.
Today she is a teacher and coach of athletics and at Juntendo University. She is researching the dangers of competing in the heat, which she says is not always easy for athletes to recognize.
“It can be extremely difficult for athletes to give up competition in the middle of the game because the athletes represent their country on the stage of their dreams,” she said. “But I tell athletes that having the courage to stop is the best way to prevent heatstroke.”
Due to Covid-19 restrictions, most athletes have less time in Japan to acclimate to the weather before competing. Athletes can only arrive at the Olympic Village five days before the competition and most must leave within two days.
The future of summer games
In 1964, the Tokyo Summer Olympics were held in October to beat the heat. But in recent decades, the Summer Olympics have been held in July or August. This is when the sporting calendar is calmer, increasing the audience for the Games. This makes it the perfect month for broadcasters, who pay billions of dollars for rights, to host the event.
But since then, temperatures have continued to rise. Temperatures in Japan have risen three times faster than the global average since 1900, according to a report by the British Association for Sustainable Sport.
Yokohari said these Games should have followed the same path as the 1964 Games.
“Having the Olympics in the middle of summer in Tokyo is not something you should be doing,” said Yokohari, who believes Tokyo 2020 should have been postponed until fall.
Still, researchers warn the problem goes beyond Tokyo.
By 2085, most cities could be too hot for the Summer Olympics due to climate change, according to a study published in The Lancet.
Going forward, the forecast in Tokyo is more of the same – temperatures will continue to be in the low 86-92 ° F over the next seven days, potentially reaching 92-93 F over the weekend.
However, there is currently no heat advisory in effect for the greater Tokyo area, according to the Japan Meteorological Agency.
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