As the Paris Olympics get underway, top athletes are demonstrating skill, determination, and resilience as they face their most capable competitors on a global stage. But they are confronting an invisible challenger, too: extreme heat.
Athletic performance and health are vulnerable in extreme heat. We saw this play out during the Tokyo Olympics in 2021, when record-setting temperatures led to 146 reported cases of heat-related illnesses among athletes.
In Paris, the risks are similarly high. Since Paris last hosted the Games in 1924, the city has warmed by 3.1°C. The incidence of scorching days (with highs of 30°C or above) has nearly tripled since the 1920s, and sweltering nights (when temperatures remain at or above 20°C) are over 20 times more common. The city has endured 50 heat waves since 1947, with the deadliest in 2023 resulting in 14,800 excess deaths across France — a disaster made at least twice as likely by human-caused climate change.
As global temperatures rise and extreme heat events become increasingly common, the urgency of enacting comprehensive climate resilience strategies is intensifying. The Olympics is a cultural tradition that has spanned more than 3,000 years — but continuing the Games safely will require new approaches.
Heat’s impact on health at the Olympics
The recent Rings of Fire report highlights how extreme heat can threaten the safety of all involved in sporting events, particularly those of the scale and importance of the Olympics.
Heat stress significantly impairs athletic performance across a wide range of sports. High temperatures increase the risk of heat-related illnesses such as heat exhaustion, heat cramps, and the potentially life-threatening heat stroke. Dehydration is a critical issue; athletes can lose up to 2-6% of their body weight through sweat during intense competition, leading to diminished performance and increased health risks. In hot conditions, endurance activities can experience performance declines of up to 16%, say recent studies.
Extreme heat also endangers spectators, event staff, volunteers, and security personnel. These individuals are often exposed to heat for extended periods, sometimes in conditions that can exacerbate heat stress. For example, large gatherings can create local microclimates with high humidity due to crowd perspiration and limited airflow, significantly increasing the risk of heat-related illnesses.
The elderly, children, and individuals with pre-existing health conditions are particularly vulnerable and require special consideration.
Keeping people safe with a plan of action
With careful planning and investments, organizers of major athletics events can do a great deal to mitigate heat’s risks for all involved.
The first step in effectively managing heat for events like the Olympics is to ensure accurate environmental monitoring. Implementing widespread Wet Bulb Globe Temperature (WBGT) measurements across all venues — and ensuring that monitoring equipment is held to the most stringent standards — can provide an accurate and comprehensive picture of heat stress.
WBGT accounts for temperature, humidity, wind speed, and solar radiation, offering a more accurate reflection of the conditions athletes will face than other measures do. Additionally, this monitoring must consider urban heat islands and microclimates, where temperatures can vary significantly over short distances. Different surface types within venues, such as asphalt, concrete, and synthetic turf, can absorb and retain heat differently, exacerbating localized heat stress. This information can be used to identify targeted interventions for competitors, workers, and spectators in specific zones of a venue.
Ensuring adequate ice supplies for medical use and athlete recovery is vital. At the Tokyo Olympics, over 22 tonnes of ice were used each day. This logistical feat underscores the magnitude of preparation required to safeguard participants’ health.
Shading and cooling areas throughout venues are essential to protect individuals from direct sun exposure. Innovations like cool corridors, shaded pathways, retractable roofs, and misting stations can significantly mitigate heat exposure.
Flexibility in event scheduling to avoid the hottest parts of the day and potential modifications based on real-time heat stress levels are also necessary measures.
To ensure optimal performance and safety, athletes and their coaches must be educated on how to develop adaptation plans for increasing heat stress. These plans can include heat acclimation through training in hot conditions, personalized hydration regimens, and pre-cooling techniques like ice vests or cold-water immersion to help manage core body temperature.
Additionally, adapting uniforms and equipment to maximize heat dissipation while maintaining necessary protection is crucial.
Equally important is medical preparedness. Training medical staff to recognize and treat exertional heat stroke, implementing on-site cooling protocols, and establishing clear transfer protocols for severe cases help to ensure effective management of heat-related illness. Rapid cooling techniques, particularly cold-water immersion, have proven to dramatically improve outcomes for heat stroke victims.
Lastly, education and communication play a vital role in effective heat management. Proactively providing comprehensive information on heat risks and mitigation strategies in advance to everyone involved—athletes, coaches, medical staff, vendors, and spectators—is essential. And during events, clear communication protocols are critical for disseminating heat-related information and warnings, ensuring everyone remains informed and safe.
Building resilience: A broader view
As organizers of the Olympics and other major athletic events confront the realities of extreme heat and its health impacts, they must identify and plan for innovative strategies to optimize performance while keeping everyone safe.
But extreme heat is also a broader global challenge. Rapid warming trends in many parts of the world are leading to more frequent, prolonged, and intense heat waves. As heat waves intensify, their repercussions extend beyond individual discomfort, impacting public health, labor productivity, and the global economy. In 2021 alone, heat waves were responsible for the loss of 470 billion potential labour hours and an economic hit of US$669 billion in income loss.
Furthermore, it is estimated that heat waves are the number one cause of death related to climate disasters. Heat-related deaths increased by 68% from 2017 to 2021, with 37% of deaths attributable to climate change-induced extreme heat. The World Health Organization announced that in 2022, approximately 15,000 people died across Europe due to extremely hot weather, evidencing the urgency of this global challenge.
Living in a hotter world requires us to adapt how we live, work, and play as individuals, but it also demands that decisionmakers at all levels and in all sectors collaborate to implement proactive measures to protect the health of people in our communities. (See, for example, the recently published London Climate Resilience Review, which outlines innovative strategies to guide London’s preparations for more frequent and intense climate impacts.)
The Race to Resilience is a global campaign aiming to help communities build resilience against the effects of climate change. Partnering with the Extreme Heat Resilience Alliance (EHRA), the initiative targets supporting 500 million people worldwide with heat-related resilience solutions by 2030. EHRA’s efforts focus on developing and implementing strategies that protect vulnerable populations from the dangers of extreme heat. These initiatives are playing an important role in accelerating heat solutions across the globe.
This summer, as the world’s greatest athletes summon their strength and skill in the Olympics amidst extreme heat, let’s summon our commitment, collaboration, and ingenuity to address the challenges posed by a warming climate.
Find out more:
Microclimatic variations: https://journals.ametsoc.org/view/journals/apme/63/2/JAMC-D-23-0078.1.xml
Forecasting WBGT: https://journals.ametsoc.org/view/journals/wefo/39/2/WAF-D-23-0076.1.xml
Learn more about the Race to Resilience’s partners working to combat extreme weather
The Extreme Heat Resilience Alliance (EHRA) is a coalition of leaders and practitioners dedicated to building heat resilience and protecting frontline communities from the worst impacts of extreme heat. Founded and convened by Arsht-Rock, EHRA is led by its diverse steering committee and advisory science panel.
Developing Risk Awareness through Joint Action (DARAJA) is a service and partnership that aims to improve weather and climate information services (WCIS), including early warnings of extreme weather, for urban users, specifically for residents of informal settlement. The DARAJA regional East Africa Scale Up Programme will focus on extreme heat and drought forecasting and reduction
The Risk-informed Early Action Partnership (REAP) brings together an unprecedented range of stakeholders across the climate, humanitarian and development communities with the aim of making people safer from disasters . Throughout 2023, REAP has worked with the UAE COP28 Presidency to shape their vision for EWEA, resulting in “Getting Ahead of Disasters: A Charter on Finance for Managing Risks”, launched at COP28 as one of the non-negotiated outcomes for the Health / Relief, Recovery and Peace Day. The Charter provides a roadmap towards better finance for disasters, prioritizing those at the frontlines of the climate crisis.
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