If it was not the water, it was the heat.
Those two elements came to define the first week of competition at the 2024 Olympics in Paris, first with the rain that drenched the Opening Ceremony, then with the heat that has tormented competitors and fans in the stands.
On Tuesday, British tennis player Jack Draper complained of “drinking hot water” during his second-round singles match on the clay at Roland Garros. He lost — 7-6 (7-3) 3-6 2-6, to American Taylor Fritz – and spent much of his time during changeovers standing at a water fountain and draping bags of ice over his face to stay cool.
“I’m a big sweater so to retain fluid was tough,” he told reporters. “It was pretty poor. They give bottles to the players but the bottles don’t stay cool, so, you know, you’re drinking hot water out there.”
Fritz concurred: “It’s hard to find cold water out here.”
Elsewhere, the Games suffered from having too much water.
Heavy rainfall caused delays in triathlon, with Olympic organizers attributing the issue to climate change. The rain – falling last Friday and Saturday – amounted to what the city would normally expect to receive for the entire month of July.
The shorter version? It resulted in high E. coli levels in the Seine, leading to a safety-related postponement of the men’s triathlon.
Aurélie Merle, director of sports for Paris 2024, stated: “We are living in the 21st century where unfortunately there are far more meteorological events that happen which are beyond the control of the organizers.”
How safe was the water when the race took place?
“Here in Ontario, we would close a beach if [bacteria was at] the same level as was in the Seine this morning when they jumped into the water,” Stephen Brown, an associate professor at Queen’s University’s School of Environmental Studies and Department of Chemistry, told the CBC.
And then, we move back to the heat, with some athletes complaining of uncomfortably high temperatures in their rooms at the village.
In an effort to reduce France’s carbon footprint, organizers have implemented a water-cooling system in place of air conditioning within the village. Given that air conditioning is less common in French homes, and with temperatures reaching up to 36 Celsius, organizers have permitted delegations to rent or purchase units for their athletes. Some teams have already resorted to bringing their own air-conditioning units.
This heatwave has not only affected athletes, but also spectators.
Volunteers sprayed fans with hoses to cool them down at the beach volleyball events held in the sun-exposed arena near the Eiffel Tower, while some sought refuge from the heat by taking cover under trees.
“Climate change crashed the Olympics,” climate scientist Friederike Otto said on the app formerly known as Twitter. “The world watched athletes swelter in 35°C heat. If the atmosphere wasn’t overloaded with emissions from burning fossil fuel, Paris would have been about 3°C cooler and much safer for sport.”
The New Zealand women’s rugby sevens team was not immune to the heat, either, as it made its way to a gold medal win over Canada. According to a report in The Associated Press, the team procured a supply of ice blocks, ice water and slushies to combat the elements.
As team captain Sarah Hirini told the news agency: “We’ve got everything we possibly can to make sure we were cool down before the game, and when you play sevens, it’s hard.”