The Australian Institute of Sport (AIS) is preparing for heat at this year’s Olympics and Paralympics in Tokyo, declaring them to be ‘the hottest on record’.
Senior Physiologist at AIS, Jo Miller said the Institute’s Tokyo Heat Project, a collaboration with sports, the Australian Olympic Committee, Paralympics Australia and the National Institute Network, had been planning and preparing for the past two years to help athletes and staff make it through the Games.
“Limited international travel means the bulk of Australia’s Olympic and Paralympic teams will be leaving winter conditions to compete in the hot and humid summer of Tokyo,” Dr Miller said.
“We’re expecting it will be around 30-plus degrees, but then you add 70-90 per cent humidity and that has the potential to make it a really relentless Games,” she said.
“There’s potential for the hottest Games on record.”
Dr Miller said the Project had strategies in place for all scenarios to minimise risk and maximise performance.
She said excessive heat could impact performance and had flow-on effects both physically and cognitively.
“We’re mindful that we protect athletes really well, but we’re also conscious that staff and coaches may be out in the heat all day and that can affect decision-making and even mood,” she said.
“Everything we’re providing to athletes will be available to staff, so a large part of the Project has been providing information and education to staff.”’
Dr Miller said ice-baths were expected to run 24/7 during the Games but much of the important work would be done before they even began as athletes worked to acclimatise prior to their arrived in Tokyo.
She said some teams had based pre-Games camps in Darwin but AIS also had to consider artificial means of acclimation for athletes such as training in heat chambers and using spas or saunas after training.
Dr Miller said that to drive the physical adaptations required, body temperature needed to get above 38.5 degrees.
“You need to be sweating profusely and you’ll feel quite uncomfortable,” she said.
