Written by No longer a scary prospect of a far-off future, there is an increasing prevalence of extreme weather conditions worldwide and these are impacting on sporting events and the health and welfare of the athletes. The world of sport is a fast-paced one, training, traveling, competing, when the natural world interrupts proceedings it is keenly noticed. Floods, fire, heat, cold … a pandemic, are major impediments to the sporting calendar.
It’s not just the obvious events either, there’s also the slow, sneaky loss of landscape to erosion from wind and pounding waves. Such is the case in Montrose, on the east coast of Scotland, where the North Sea is slowly swallowing their golf course.
Australians remember all too well the thick haze of smoke that shrouded the cricket pitches, football fields, and tennis courts during the deadly summer of 2019-2020. Bush fires consumed massive swaths of the landscape and belched foul smoke into the air impacting on airways from one end of the country to another. Slovenian Dalila Jakupovic retired from her Australian Open qualifying match in 2020 after suffering breathing difficulties due to thick smoke from bushfires around Melbourne. Heat is becoming such an issue that there has been intense discussion about the possibility of moving the Australian open to March when the worst of the summer heat has passed. In 1998, the Australian Open was the first grand slam tennis tournament to develop a heat policy. This was superseded by a new policy in 2020 which was based on recorded data measuring radiant heat, humidity, air temperature and wind speed around the courts in Melbourne. The policy outlines cooling strategies, extended breaks and increased hydration as healthy steps to be initiated before suspended play is implemented in the more extreme circumstances.
Heat stroke ended the career of Australian netballer, Amy Steele, who collapsed during a match in 2016. She is not alone, hundreds of players swelter in the hot summer sun every year as temperatures periodically soar. Conversely blizzards and extreme cold impact winter sports. Late last month extreme weather killed 21 athletes during an ultramarathon in the mountainous terrain of northwest China. Officials from Baiyin City intend to launch an investigation into the race once all rescue activity has ceased but social media has been flooded with criticism over the poor planning and lack of preparedness. Three hours into the event the temperature unexpectedly and rapidly dropped, and athletes were caught in a hailstorm and freezing cold rain. Race competitors dressed in light clothing were ill-equipped to stave off hypothermia and were disoriented enough by the heavy winds and rain to veer off course and become hopelessly and dangerously lost.
It is the responsibility of sporting organizations to ensure the health and welfare of athletes. The planning for events should not be without contingency measures in place and any suspicion of a possible extreme weather event should trigger postponement, cancellation, or interruption of proceedings. It needs to be an embedded priority in the culture of sports to prevent illness, injury, and most definitely loss of life.
21 Athletes Die During Ultramarathon In China As Race Organizers Face Backlash (forbes.com)
Australian Open should be moved because of extreme heat: researchers (afr.com)