The Climate-Changing Olympics

By Dom Winter, Protect Our Winters UK

Time to face the sweaty facts: climate change is crashing the Olympic party. From scorching temperatures to extreme weather, the future of the Games isn’t looking good. Climate change is impacting the performance of athletes and it’s causing problems for spectators and organisers too.

Let's take a dive into what has changed - and what needs to change for the Olympic Games to prosper in a warmer world.

Paris: Turning Up the Heat

France - known for fine wine, and now, record-breaking temperatures. Climate change has caused this year’s host country France some of the largest annual temperature increases in Europe. For the location and dates of this Games, the average temperature is 3.1°C hotter now than the 1920s. Most of the days are in the high 20s, with several at a “scorching”-defined 31-36°C. Not ideal peak performance weather - in fact many sports such as triathlon have to bring in special measures from the high 20°Cs (wet bulb test).

Of course, climate change isn't just making it hotter; it's changing weather patterns. As in more wildfires, more intense storms, flooding, wind, and landslides. Rain in France in summer is now falling less frequently - but more intensely when it does. Julie Deshayes, a researcher at French National Centre for Scientific Research, explains that "it's the concentration of precipitation in a smaller window of time that changes: What we had over a month before, now we'll have over two days”. We certainly saw some heavy rain during that opening ceremony!

Tougher Times ?

Athletes are in for a tough ride. Imagine competing in sweltering heat while trying to avoid heatstroke, dehydration, and exhaustion. Heat is even deadly to swimmers. Athletes gasping for breath can encounter air quality issues from wildfires or vehicle air pollution.

In BASIS’ Rings of Fire 2 report, Lord Sebastian Coe, President of World Athletics, warns that “with global temperatures continuing to rise, climate change should increasingly be viewed as an existential threat to sport”, and the report goes on to highlight the impacts on example sports from tennis to track & field in detail.

Let's look here instead at some outdoor sports and how they’re feeling the heat:

Cycling: We’ve seen multiple time trial cyclists hitting the ground in heavy rain this Games. POW UK’s ‘Downhill From Here’ report and the Cracked Earth film paint a grim picture including recent events impacted by scorching temperatures and erratic weather conditions altering and cancelling competitions from all disciplines.
Outdoor Swimming: the marathon swim start time has had to be moved earlier in the morning than events would normally be to make it cooler, as it was in Tokyo, impacting preparation. Intense rainfall bursts affect water flow and on Wednesday we saw triathlon swimmers struggle with the current. It also increases water quality problems due to runoff from the city - exacerbating an ongoing issue, as last year the marathon swimming test event was cancelled after dangerous levels of E.coli were found in the River Seine. This Games the triathlon men’s event had to be postponed by a day last minute, causing organisational and preparation difficulties, and if it hadn’t improved rapidly would have had no swimming.
Running: Athletes struggling to maintain peak performance while battling extreme weather.
BMX & Skateboarding: Neither extreme heat or heavy rainfall are exactly conducive to landing tricks.
Surfing: The North Atlantic is predicted to get reduced swell size and lower time periods - add stronger winds near coasts and that’s some poor conditions. In the longer term, rising sea levels are predicted to drastically alter the surfing landscape.

Polluting Sponsors

Here's the kicker: the Olympics, like too many massive cultural events, is riddled with the most polluting sponsors.

Take British Cycling, for example, partnering with Shell. Despite subsequent protests from members, a Brandalism billboard campaign, and climate training to senior leaders from POW UK including details of Shell’s practices, they haven't broken free from this relationship.

Brandalism action against Shell and British Cycling

The Olympics haven’t been averse to fossil fuel companies either. The recent Olympic Smoke Rings report highlights, “Since 2004, despite the well-established scientific facts about global warming and the catastrophic impact of burning fossil fuels, the Games have promoted seven of the world's largest oil and gas companies.”

Of the Games’ current sponsors Air France, Toyota, and ArcelorMittal have all been flagged for their poor environmental records. The recent Olympic Smoke Rings report includes calculations of just how polluting each sponsorship deal is. Toyota, whilst having more CO2 emissions than the majority of countries taking part, is also dragging its feet on EVs, while ArcelorMittal is a top target for dodgy deals according to BankTrack.

Brandalism action on the streets of Paris ahead of the Games

Team GB isn't off the hook either. With sponsors like British Gas (who need to sort their name out) and Persimmon Homes (who successfully lobbied against low carbon homes), they're not exactly setting the greenest example.

This enablement of sportwashing is justified by the costs of the Olympics, which have increased 5-30 times since the 60’s thanks to increased event size. Let’s not let the Games peter out, like they did in the fourth century, thanks to not adapting to the times.

The main thing is to cut ties with the worst actors. Even the United Nations Secretary General says we need to stop fossil fuel companies’ marketing. The Olympic Smoke Rings report suggests that emissions associated with each polluting sponsor should be integrated into the sporting bodies’ strategies. The Rings of Fire report agrees they must think again. POW UK has recently put this into the UNFCCC Sports For Climate Action framework review, to try and ensure anyone part of that global initiative acts on this.

Will Going Ever Be the Same?

Will the Olympic experience ever be the same for attendees as climate impacts kick in? Events might need to shift their timings, causing chaos for fans and organisers alike. Crowds, once buzzing with excitement, could reduce due to the unbearable heat or unexpected storms.

Let's not forget the bugs. Vector-borne diseases like yellow fever, dengue fever, Leishmaniasis and malaria are creeping further into Northern Europe as the climate warms. Not ideal souvenirs to bring back from the Games.

It's not the festive atmosphere we're used to, and it begs the question: is this the future of the Olympics?

Should the Olympics stay the same as they are anyway?

It's time for a reality check. What is the actual purpose of the Games? Sportspeople performing at the highest level - and this is being actively damaged by the way it’s being held.

This Games has made some important improvements after years of being asked. Most venues are within 10km of the Olympic village to reduce travel emissions, and there are fewer diesel generators. They finally use mostly existing venue infrastructure, rather than creating as many new ones to be swiftly abandoned. (Some suggest rotating repeating hosts to completely solve this - discussed by e.g. Sam Haddad).

There are still a huge amount of unnecessary emissions though, in particular the now huge numbers of spectators that fly there. Spectators at the summer Olympics have increased by 440% since the 60’s - and at the winter Games by 850%. Should the Olympics continue on this growth trajectory, or is it time for an overhaul? Delegations and non-local spectators could be limited - an article, surprisingly in Bloomberg, even suggests a ban on non-local spectators.

POW France have been doing leading work on this - eyeing their country's 2030 Winter Olympics, they have worked in a coalition to provide 17 demands for the event, and they have recently been on a panel discussion with the President of the French Olympic Committee.

What Can The Sports Community Do To Help?

So, what sacrifices are we willing to make to keep the Olympic flame burning bright? It's clear that without drastic changes, the Games are going to hit the wall sooner than later. It's time to rethink how we celebrate the pinnacle of human athletic achievement in a heating world.

We ask those involved in sports to help cut their own emissions rapidly, and support the systemic policy changes we need to stay close to 1.5C. To help this it’s a great idea to learn more about the issue e.g. providing Carbon Literacy Training which has its own Sports Kit, as well as POW’s outdoor sports specific version.

We also need to stop any sponsorships from fossil fuel majors altogether. Without this, it’s hard to see how large scale sport events like this can help us drive the positive systemic change we so badly need.

Let's not wait until it's too late. The clock is ticking. The athletes deserve better. A liveable planet demands better.

Dom Winter, Head of Policy & Advocacy, Protect Our Winters UK