Visitors refresh in a fountain close on Tuesday, July 30, 2024, in Paris, France. Siegfried Modola/The Globe and MailSiegfried Modola/The Globe and Mail
Julie Schippers rolled a water bottle slowly behind her right ear, convinced that it would bring some relief from the blistering heat that had turned much of her face bright red and had her husband searching for somewhere cool.
“No, it’s not working,” she said after a few rolls as she sat in a tiny corner of shade at an Olympic fan zone in central Paris. She and her husband, Martin Bamberg, came here from Germany to watch rugby sevens, rowing and volleyball. She wasn’t expecting to be on the verge of heat stroke on her second day. “My husband has gone off to find more shade,” she said glancing across the square. “He hasn’t come back.”
Just about everyone else in the fan zone and across Paris was also seeking whatever respite from the sun they could find on Tuesday. After several days of cool, damp weather, the temperature soared to 35 C in Paris and even higher in other parts of the country. The weather office has issued a yellow warning for the next couple of days, indicating that the conditions could be dangerous for vulnerable people and anyone working outside, such as Olympic athletes.
A man wipes sweat from his forehead as he walks with his family in the centre of Paris during the 2024 Olympic Games on July 30.Siegfried Modola/The Globe and Mail
“It’s not fun in those conditions at all,” said British tennis player Jack Draper after he lost to American Taylor Fritz 7-6, 3-6, 2-6 Tuesday afternoon at Roland Garros stadium. Draper questioned whether the matches should have been halted. “It was pretty poor the way they give the bottles to the players, but the bottles don’t stay cool. We were drinking hot water out there,” he added.
“I think it’s probably one of the hottest conditions I’ve ever played in, and I’m from Australia, so that’s saying something,” said tennis player Alexei Popyrin after he beat Stan Wawrinka 6-4, 7-5.
At the BMX competition cyclists were given ice vests while at several outdoor venues spectators were sprayed with mist. And in some metro stations volunteers handed out free bottles of water.
“I was burning up there, I was baking hot. I felt like a little potato. I don’t even know how to describe it, I was roasting,” said Hannah Roberts of the United States after she qualified for the finals at the women’s BMX freestyle event.
Hot weather isn’t entirely new at the Summer Olympics, but researchers have warned that climate change is having a serious impact on the Games and athletes.
A man sells bottles of water to spectators coming out from Olympic venues in Paris.Siegfried Modola/The Globe and Mail
The Tokyo Olympics were the hottest in history with 34 C temperatures and 70 per cent humidity on some days, readings that Paris largely matched on Tuesday.
Hot and humid conditions impair “physical performance, particularly when the exposure is prolonged and sustained high work rates are required,” said a report titled Rings of Fire that was released just before the 2024 Olympics by scientists at Portsmouth University in Britain. “It is not just the temperature that is increasing. The alarm amongst the athlete community is growing too.”
The report said average temperatures in Paris during July and August have warmed by 3.1 degrees since the last time the French capital hosted the Olympics in 1924. “Whilst global temperatures continue to rise, climate change should increasingly be viewed as an existential threat to sport,” Sebastian Coe, the head of World Athletics said in the report.
Adriana Rivera acknowledged that she should be used to hot weather. She’s from Playa del Carmen in Mexico, not far from Cancun. “But even I find it hot,” Rivera said as she fanned herself in the fan zone on Tuesday.
She’d been at the archery venue earlier in the afternoon but left after two hours because of the heat. “When I got there, it was 90 per cent full. When I left only 10 per cent,” she said. “Everyone was in the shade taking water.”
A woman fans herself as she waits with her children in Paris during the 2024 Olympic Games.Siegfried Modola/The Globe and Mail
Paris has installed hundreds of water fountains around the city and there were lineups at many of them on Tuesday. Olympic organizers have also had to deal with questions about why they didn’t install air conditioning at the athletes village.
Paris 2024 officials have been determined to make these the greenest Games ever and that meant using as little air conditioning as possible at all venues. Instead of AC in the athletes village, organizers installed a geothermal system that pumps cool water from 70 metres underground through a network of pipes underneath the floors. They’ve assured athletes that the system would keep rooms around six degrees cooler than the temperature outside. Nonetheless, several national teams, including Canada, have rented temporary air conditioning units for their athletes’ rooms.
Anne Descamps, a spokeswoman for the Paris Games organizing committee, told a press conference on Tuesday that officials have had to balance their commitment to a low-carbon Olympics with their responsibility to give the athletes the best conditions for success. “And that’s the reason why we offered them the opportunity to rent temporary AC,” she said. “We will always promote the most sustainable solution.”
Not everyone was unhappy with the heat. Some athletes and fans couldn’t get enough.
“I do enjoy riding in the heat. I enjoy sweating and all that sort of stuff,” said BMX rider Logan Martin of Australia.
Jim Kennedy and his wife Elizabeth Hansell, who are from Los Angeles, sat in the open-air stands at the beach volleyball venue all afternoon, enjoying the matches and soaking up the sunshine. “We’ve drunk about two gallons of water and haven’t had to go to the bathroom yet,” Kennedy said.
Hansell acknowledged that it was hot even for them and that their five-year old daughter wasn’t quite as enthusiastic. She was hiding in a stairwell to escape the sun. “She loves the water that they are spraying,” Hansell said. Her husband quickly joked: “We’re bad parents, by the way.”
The heat wave isn’t expected to last too long. The temperature in Paris is expected to be 31 C on Wednesday and then fall below 30 C by the end of the week.
Follow the latest news and highlights from the Paris Olympic Games