Olympic organisers concerned about Paris heatwave

Parisians cooling off
Photo: AFP

Organisers of the Paris 2024 Olympic Games are paying close attention to long-term weather models as swathes of Europe baked again in near-record temperatures.

The heatwave engulfing the northern hemisphere is set to intensify this week, the World Meteorological Organization said, with temperatures in the Mediterranean, North America, Asia and North Africa expected to be above 40 degrees for a number of days.

“We are remaining very, very vigilant on temperature forecasts,” Paris 2024 chief Tony Estanguet, a three-time Olympic Champion and President of the Paris 2024 Organising Committee, said.

Arc de Triomphe
Photo: PHOTOSPORT

The blistering temperatures across swathes of southern and eastern European have coincided with wildfires from Greece to the Swiss Alps and deadly flooding in India and South Korea, putting renewed focus on climate change risks.

The International Olympic Committee President Thomas Bach said the consequences of climate change impacted the organisation of sport worldwide.

“A special focus is winter sport … because there it is most obvious already, but it also applies to summer sport,” Bach told reporters during a briefing.

The IOC was sharing past lessons learned with the Paris 2024 organising committee, Bach added.

“In Tokyo it’s very, very humid. The heat mitigation measures worked well,” he said.

New temperature records could fall in the days ahead, the WMO said. The previous European high was 48.8 Celsius reached in Sicily in August 2021. France hit an all-time high of 46 Celsius in 2019 and recorded its hottest July on record last summer, when wildfires raged as drought parched the country.

France has escaped the worst of the searing temperatures so far this summer. The 2024 Games will mostly be held in and around Paris, though some events will take place further from the capital, including soccer at some southern venues and sailing in the Mediterranean waters off Marseille.

A contingency plan was in place to adjust schedules but there were no plans to change any locations, a spokesperson for Paris 2024 told Reuters.

“I can’t imagine a scenario where sailing wouldn’t take place in Marseille,” the spokesperson said, adding that a sailing test took place during the heat last week without issue.

Prolonged exposure to heat can lead to heat exhaustion or heatstroke, which can be fatal.

-Reuters