Athletes at this summer's Paris Olympics face life-threatening conditions due to climate change.
The Olympics are the pinnacle for most athletes and one of the most eagerly anticipated events every four years. Sadly, according to the new “Rings of Fire” report, athletes at this summer’s Paris Olympics face increasingly dangerous conditions due to rising heat and humidity caused by climate change.
The report's findings are so stark that “leading athletes are warning that intense heat at the Paris Olympics in July-August 2025 could lead to competitors collapsing and in worst case scenarios dying during the Games.”
Rings of Fire: Heat Risks at the 2024 Paris Olympics, produced by the British Association for Sustainable Sport (BASIS) and Australian sports advocacy group, FrontRunners was written with the input of 11 Olympians, as well as leading climate scientists at Climate Central, and heat physiologists from the University of Portsmouth.
The report exposes the risks athletes face this summer due to increasing heat and humidity levels caused by human-induced climate change. According to it, the Tokyo Olympics were the hottest Summer games on record. Temperatures in Japan exceeded 34℃ (roughly 93℉), and humidity levels were around 70%, making conditions “torturous” for athletes. This summer’s Olympics in Paris have the potential to surpass that, making competition difficult if not deadly for athletes.
Speaking in a private press briefing before the report’s publication, leading climate scientist at Climate Central, Kaitlyn Trudeau explained that she and her team assessed temperature data and thermal indicators across France over the past one hundred years, and found that the average annual temperature in Paris rose by 1.8℃.
This temperature rise may seem inconsequential, but it is the difference between an athlete being able to cool their body during and after competition, or needing serious medical attention. Similar conditions at the Tokyo Olympics made numerous Olympians vomit and faint and caused world number two tennis player Daniel Medvedev to fear for his life.
Jamie Farndale, a rugby 7’s for Great Britain Rugby, says playing in such heat and humidity takes a lot away from the game. In these conditions, players are no longer capable of processing play the same way, they are “literally just trying to get through the next phase of play.” In other words, the quality of play drops as the heat and humidity rise, to a point where players are just surviving games instead of breaking records and providing a spectacle.
Farndale added that recovery between games is no better, with players’ core temperatures unable to drop due to increased air temperature. Sam Mattis, a Team USA’s discus thrower, echoed Farndale’s sentiments, saying “It is extremely noticeable how much hotter it's gotten,” adding that it makes training far more difficult and leads to dangerous conditions and subpar performances. Mattis also noted that for many Olympians whose sports are not financially lucrative, there is an even greater incentive to push through adversity, even if it could be deadly.
When asked if they would consider withdrawing from competition due to extreme heat, Farndale and Indian triathlete Pragnya Mohan, both said no. Mohan added, “As athletes, we are training to push ourselves to the limit. When we compete we don’t actually think about the dangers we are putting our bodies through.” Farndale said, “It is not in an athlete’s DNA to stop and if the conditions are too dangerous I do think there is a risk of fatalities.”
Unfortunately, without meaningful actions to tackle the climate crisis conditions for outdoor athletes will only worsen. As the report points out, 2023 was the hottest year on record, and those above-average temperatures have continued through 2024. In May, India saw temperatures as high as 52.3℃ (126℉). At the time of writing, the U.S. is experiencing a heat dome that has caused excessive heat warnings from Arizona to Massachusetts.
Rings of Fire underscores the fact that Paris has suffered deadly heat waves over the past decades at exactly the same time as the Summer Olympics. The worst of these heatwaves killed over 14,000 people. As the world continues to warm and stay warmer for longer, hosting pinnacle athletic events in peak summer no longer makes sense. It only increases the risk of a devastating heat wave.
According to Trudeau, “Without concerted efforts to reduce carbon emissions, it will make it almost impossible to host the Summer Olympics.” Mattis says, “Summertime competitions in the U.S. and around the world, unless they are held in the middle of the night will be pretty much impossible.”
The Olympians who spoke to the media all stated that the best they can do is adapt their training to mimic the conditions they will be competing in. Using saunas and heat chambers, they hope their bodies will adapt and become comfortable in the increasingly intolerable summer heat. Although Farndale admitted, “adaption won’t be enough.”
To limit athlete and fan exposure to such a hostile environment and to protect the future of the Summer Olympics, the report makes five recommendations for sporting authorities. They are the following: “(i) smart scheduling to avoid heat extremes, (ii) keeping athletes and fans safe with better rehydration and cooling plans, (iii) empower athletes to speak out on climate change, (iv) boost collaboration between sporting bodies and athletes on climate awareness campaigns, and (v) reassess fossil fuel sponsorship in sport.”
Unfortunately, too few of these recommendations are taken into account in elite sports. Athletes continue to compete during high summer at ill-advised times. This summer alone the T20 Cricket World Cup, Euro 2024, Copa America 2024, and the Paris Olympics are all taking place. Moreover, while some athletes are speaking out about climate change, it remains a minority group. Many feel uninformed, or fear they will be labeled as hypocrites if they do speak out. Finally, fossil fuel sponsorship remains a major issue for most sports mega-events. Despite the science showing a direct link between fossil fuels and increasing global temperatures, athletes and tournaments continue to partner with organizations such as Aramco and Total Energies.
As the Paris Olympics kick off on July 26th, expect the conversation around heat and safety to rumble on, and do not be shocked if severe heat impacts the games. Hopefully, every athlete has the opportunity to give their best performance and return home healthy, however, without any serious behavioral and governance change, it is unrealistic to think that sport will survive in the long term. As Farndale says, “We need to fight for every tenth of a degree we can,” otherwise athletes will be unable to compete and sports as we know them will cease to exist.
