Rings of Fire II
Ahead of Paris 2024, and building on the first Rings of Fire report in 2021, elite athletes from across 15 sports – including 11 Olympians – join forces with leading climate scientists and thermal physiologists to examine the serious threat extreme heat poses to competitors at the Paris Olympics.
It includes:
Analysis to show that the average temperature in Paris has risen by 3.1°C since 1924, the year of the last Olympics in France.
The UN’s prediction that 2024 is on track to the hottest year ever, and Europe is the fastest-warming continent on the planet.
A foreword from Lord Seb Coe, President of World Athletics, in which he warns that “with global temperatures continuing to rise, climate change should increasingly be viewed as an existential threat to sport”
Athletes express their concerns about the dangers to performance, health and even the fear of heat-related deaths.
We hear from:
Pragnya Mohan, the highest-ever ranked Indian triathlete who spoke at the BASIS Conference, describing “scary” dangers “that can be fatal” as “your body feels like it’s shutting down”.
Olympic bronze medal tennis player Marcus Daniell reporting that “at [the Tokyo Olympics] I felt like the heat was bordering on true risk – the type of risk that could potentially be fatal. One of the best tennis players in the world [Daniil Medvedev] said he thought someone might die in Tokyo, and I don’t feel like that was much of an exaggeration. This is not fun or healthy.”
Team GB Rugby 7s player Jamie Farndale, who says “We push ourselves to our limits, and if we have to do so in conditions that are unsafe I don’t think the athlete would hold back. It is not in an athlete’s DNA to stop and if the conditions are too dangerous I do think there is a risk of fatalities
Sam Mattis USA Olympian and 2019 Outdoor USA Champion in discus: “Unfortunately, in the US, athletes dying from heat stroke is not new. As extreme heat events become more commonplace, and the stakes remain unchanged for athletes (perform or go broke), it seems likely that it will happen again.”
Alongside athlete testimony, the report outlines a series of recommendations safeguard athletes and protect the sports we love from the impacts of climate change.