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PARIS 2024 OLYMPICS

Concern over lack of air-con in Paris 2024 Olympic village

The lack of air conditioning in the rooms of the athletes' village for the Paris 2024 Olympics is raising concerns from some federations and athletes, sources told AFP on Tuesday.

Published: 17 January 2023 17:09 CET
Concern over lack of air-con in Paris 2024 Olympic village
Workers operate at the site of the 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Games athletes' village in Saint-Ouen, outside Paris, on August 30, 2022. (Photo by Emmanuel DUNAND / AFP)

The Olympic Village, based in Saint-Denis seven kilometres north of central Paris, will accommodate nearly 14,000 athletes and staff members during the Olympics in the French capital in July and August 2024.

The games organisers have promised the global event will be carbon neutral, with the use of materials chosen for their energy performance. After the games, the Olympic village will be converted into housing.

On Tuesday Nicolas Ferrand, head of Solideo which has been chosen to construct the Olympic buildings, said there was no problem to address.

“We are building rooms where it will be six degrees cooler than the outside temperature,” during the French summer, he assured during a press conference.

READ MORE: How the Olympics will change France’s 2024 cultural calendar

If the Olympic Games organising committee later demands air-conditioning, “there will be air-conditioning,” he added, while cautioning that the carbon footprint would be affected.

“It’s a question for society. Do we collectively accept being at six degrees less and having an excellent carbon footprint, or do we say it’s not okay, and we’re ready to downgrade the carbon footprint?” Ferrand said.

The possibility of another scorching summer, with temperatures in excess of 40C, has been taken into account, the organisers assured last year.

But the reassurances have not appeased everyone.

“Imagine several days in a row at more than 40C, in rooms at 34C. It’s still pretty crazy that these scenarios have not led to any changes,” said a high-ranking French sports official. 

The Olympic organisers have chosen to make the 2024 event “an ecological project”, said another sporting figure. 

“But in the event of a heatwave, the well-being of the athletes is not taken into account.”

Some sports federation are already looking for solutions, including finding accommodation elsewhere.

“If they continue like this, they will empty the village,” he added.

Paris-2024 organisers are considering their options, including using floor fans. 

“It’s still a work in progress,” they said.

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CLIMATE CRISIS

New report warns of heat danger at Paris Olympics

A new report backed by climate scientists and athletes warns about the dangers of extreme high temperatures at this year's Paris Olympics - as the city has been experiencing increasingly severe heatwaves in recent years due to the climate crisis.

Published: 18 June 2024 12:50 CEST
New report warns of heat danger at Paris Olympics

Although the summer in northern France has so far been unusually damp and cool, the long-term forecast from Météo France says that France is likely to experience temperatures above seasonal norms this summer, including during the Games period of July, August and September.

The Rings of Fire report – a collaboration between non-profit Climate Central, academics at Britain’s University of Portsmouth and 11 Olympians – said conditions in Paris could be worse than the last Games in Tokyo in 2021.

It warned that “intense heat at the Paris Olympics in July-August 2024 could lead to competitors collapsing and in worst case scenarios dying during the Games.”

The study adds to a growing number of calls from sports people to adjust schedules and the timing of events to take into account the physical strain of competing in higher temperatures caused by the climate crisis.

Rings of Fire urges organisers of competitions typically held at the height of the northern hemisphere summer – such as the Olympics or the football World Cup – to re-think their scheduling.

They should also provide improved rehydration and cooling plans for athletes and fans to avoid the risk of heat stroke, the study argued.

The Paris Olympics, which run from July 26th to August 11th, followed by the Paralympics from August 28th to September 8th – are set to take place in what are usually the warmest months in the French capital which has been struck by a series of record heatwaves in recent years.

More than 5,000 people died in France as a result of searing summer heat last year when new local highs above 40C (104 Fahrenheit) were recorded around the country, according to public health data.

The city’s all-time temperature record of 42.6C was set during a heatwave in 2019.

A study in the Lancet Planet Health journal last May found that Paris had the highest heat-related death rates of 854 European towns and cities, partly due to its lack of green space and dense population.

Last summer, city planners ran a series of emergency planning simulations for when temperatures reach 50C, which is expected in the coming decades.

Grass roofs and siestas: How Paris is preparing for the day when the temperature reaches 50C

Rather than high temperatures, incessant rain is currently the bigger weather-related concern for organisers, with regular downpours in May and June leading to unusually strong currents in the river Seine and poor water quality.

The Seine is set to host a boat parade during the unprecedented opening ceremony being planned for July 26th, as well as the triathlon swimming and marathon swimming events – pollution permitting.

Organisers of Paris 2024 say they have built flexibility into their schedules, enabling them to shift around some events such as the marathon or triathlon to avoid the peaks of midday heat.

But much of the Games is set to take place in temporary stands that lack shade, while the athletes’ village has been built without air conditioning to reduce the Games’ carbon footprint.

“Sleep disruption due to heat has been cited in the build-up to the 2024 Games as a major concern by athletes, especially given the lack of air conditioning in the Olympic Village,” the report said.

Olympic teams have been offered the possibility of installing portable air-conditioning units in their accommodation, however, which many have opted to include.

One of the athletes who backed the Rings of Fire report, Indian triathlete Pragnya Mohan, said she had left her home country because of high temperatures, with the country recently reporting its longest ever heatwave.

“With climate change, the kind of heat that we experience has increased so much,” Mohan told reporters. “I am not able to train in my country. That is one of the reasons that I moved to the UK.”

The last Summer Olympics in Tokyo were widely thought to have been the hottest on record, with temperatures regularly above 30C coupled with 80 percent humidity.

Tokyo organisers moved the race walk events and two marathons 800 kilometres north of Tokyo in the hope of cooler weather that did not really materialise.

Despite a range of anti-heat measures including misting stations, many athletes struggled while performing, including Russian tennis player Daniil Medvedev who wondered aloud on court if he might die.

Speaking after Tokyo, World Athletics president Sebastian Coe, who wrote a foreword for Rings of Fire, warned that the “new norm” was competing in “really harsh climatic conditions”.

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