How much can athletes handle? The specifics vary from person to person and from sport to sport, as how hard a person exercises, the clothes they wear, the sport they do and the time they work for all factor into heat stress.

In 2010, researchers picked a wet bulb of 35 degrees as a starting point for heat stress limits. Indeed, 35 degrees is a theoretical upper limit: at this point it’s impossible to lose any heat on your own, either by evaporating sweat off your skin or conducting heat away. You need air conditioning or cooler conditions to avoid heat stroke.

But most people need to do a bit better than lose just a little heat: a typical person generates about 70 to 80 watts of heat internally before they even start exercising. That’s about as much power as a professional laptop computer draws. The wet bulb temperature also doesn’t factor in additional heat from the sun when people are out of the shade.

In 2022, researchers found that wet bulbs in the range of 31 degrees, or as low as 26 degrees in hot-dry conditions, were enough to get healthy volunteers overheating as they exercised.

Olympic athletes are not regular people. They are supported during the games by a range of technologies, such as ice baths, ice vests and constant monitoring, but they also generate more heat while exercising than most of us.

But regular people need to be able to attend the games as well, so organisers need to consider how to make the event safe for everyone—whether that’s by making cooling available, rescheduling individual events to avoid the hottest conditions or by rescheduling the games as a whole.

Cooling is particularly contentious, as air conditioning is power-intense, generating greenhouse gas emissions that go on to raise global temperatures further. Earlier this month, organisers of the Paris Games abandoned plans to go without air conditioning. Instead, they are asking teams to pay to have air conditioning installed in their athletes’ accommodation.

The 2028 Olympic Games are returning to Los Angeles for a third time. They’re to be held once again in the peak of LA’s summer, but the city has warmed by nearly a full degree since it last hosted in 1984. Organisers will have an unprecedented challenge ahead of them.

Originally published under Creative Commons by 360info.

NOW READ

These retail giants are creating Asia’s best community spaces

14 powerful quotes from Asia’s elite athletes to spark the competitive spirit

Behind every successful Olympic team are sports administrators paving the way