The Olympic Sports Calendar and Climate Change
By Prof Dr Ian Blackshaw
According to the President of World Athletics, Lord Sebastian Coe, the global calendar of Olympic sports may need to be "re-engineered" to face the challenges posed by climate change, following the experiences of athletes competing in the World Athletics Championships in Tokyo, which have just ended.
During the nine days of competition, the athletes had to contend with temperatures exceeding 30C and humidity of more than 90%.
Conditions were particularly difficult for the endurance events.
According to Lord Coe, the marathon may need to be held separately, at a different time of the year, in order to protect athletes from unsafe conditions in future. He added that:
"I do think this is probably going to have to happen at some stage, and sooner rather than later."
Climate change is certainly presenting challenges in all aspects of human life, including the organisation and staging of major international sporting events around the world.
Prof Dr Ian Blackshaw may be contacted by e-mail at ‘
