A Climate Change-Induced Heat Wave Is Causing Difficulty for Olympic Athletes in Paris

The Seine cleanup and canceled swimming practices may have taken center stage for most of the 2024 Paris Olympics, but a blistering heat wave is stealing the show. Most of the country is currently dealing with heat warnings, with temperatures at the venues hosting Olympic events nearing the triple digits. This is bad news for spectators and athletes alike, as dangerous conditions create an unhealthy environment that has laid some folks out with heat stroke.

The climate change-related heat wave doesn't seem like it will be ending anytime soon, which means many athletes will be facing the toughest competition of their lives for more than one reason. Learn more about the Paris heat wave and what organizers are doing to ensure everyone's safety.

Nobody is safe from the sweltering temperatures ravaging the Olympics. From superstars like Simone Biles posting about the uncomfortable temperatures to the horses that had to be hosed down between rides, everyone was feeling the heat.

The Associated Press reports that athletes who were forced to compete outdoors found themselves resorting to additional safeguards to stay cool, including covering themselves in bags of ice between games, like the volleyball players, or submerging themselves in ice baths before competitions began, like the women's rugby team.

Whether that continues to be enough as temperatures climb even higher remains to be seen. It seems the Olympic officials have little else up their sleeves to deal with the dangerous temperatures despite watching something similar happen during the 2020 Olympic Games in Tokyo.

At the time, officials and competitors described the heat as "brutal," per the Guardian, and didn't think it could get worse — until 2024.

While officials claimed they worked to make smarter energy choices by combining insulation and underfloor cooling instead of less efficient devices like air conditioning, they still aren't ready to admit that the record heat has anything to do with climate change. Instead, they are quietly trying to make athletes and spectators comfortable by hosing people down and providing misters to help everyone keep cool.

That hasn't stopped athletes from around the world from coming up with solutions to sweltering conditions inside the Olympic Village, which include those who opted to bring portable AC units from home like the American and Australian competitors, per NPR.

However, not every athlete can afford cooling measures — those who didn't pay out of pocket to reserve mobile air conditioning units in advance are broiling. Members of the Romanian team told the Guardian that they keep their terrace doors open at night to try and get more air flow.

"There is no air conditioning, just this fan and it is not enough,” said table tennis player Bernadette Szocs. “Somehow we were lucky that it was not so hot outside so we didn’t need it so much but it is now hot and you can feel it is too hot in the room."

Knowing just how dangerous the combination of high temps and excessive physical activity can be, it seems like Olympic officials may be playing a deadly game in which there are no winners. Hopefully, Paris will see a break in the heat soon, allowing competitors to finish their contests under much safer conditions.