How future Summer Olympics could look like thanks to climate change

Last week, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) were forced to confront the growing challenge that climate change could have on the Games. IOC chief Thomas Bach pointed out that due to warming temperatures, there will practically remain just 10 countries that could host snow events 2040. The most recent edition of the Winter Olympics — hosted China in Beijing — heavily relied on artificial snow. To deal with the issue, the IOC said it was exploring the idea of having a small rotating pool of host countries in place for the Winter Olympics.
“Climate change is already having an effect on sport. In winter sports, the lack of snow is already leading to a shift: from the sports of snow, which means outdoor sports, to sports competed on ice, which means indoors,” Bach had told a select gathering of Indian journals.
He went on to admit that the Summer Olympics — the grander version of the Games that sees a much more global turnout and a more sizeable amount of athletes in attendance — are also not going to be immune from the challenges of climate change.
With India interested in hosting a Summer Olympics in just over a decade, what will the Olympics of the future look like? Will the sports be more indoorsy, to protect athletes from the elements?
Bach suggested one of the solutions was to move the Olympics further ahead on the annual calendar.
“One (solution) is that we have to look into the scheduling of events. Meaning, in the long term, we can say the Olympic Games should happen in August. But if we move, the whole calendar must move. We have to see when athletics is having their meets. When the Grand Slams in tennis and the ATP is organising their Masters tournaments. So this is a nightmare! But we have to address this,” said Bach.
He added: “This is why our two future host commissions are already looking into this: To see whether a change in the sports calendar is sufficient or whether it must be complemented a stronger shift to indoor sports.”
Jacqueline Barrett, who is the Future Olympic Games Hosts Director at the IOC, told The Indian Express that the countries that the IOC is in dialogue (non-committal conversations) with to host future editions of the Summer Olympics, might necessitate a shift in the window.
“The Games will have to adapt to changing environments as well. First and foremost, we have to protect the athletes. There is no doubt that there is an impact of global warming. One thing we have to look at is the time period that the Games are organised: mid-July to August. In some of the countries that we’re in continuous dialogue with, it’s going to be extremely challenging in terms of heat and humidity. Mostly it’s humidity that is the most concerning for the athletes. It’s the beginning of those discussions,” said Barrett.
But any shift in the calendar is easier said than done, particularly when it comes to the Olympics, considering every sport’s circadian rhythms are linked to the Olympics, acting as qualification tournaments. Last year, when the FIFA World Cup window was shifted to November because the Games were happening in Qatar, it sent seismic waves in football leagues around the world.
“The sports calendar is set a long time in advance! It’s a discussion we can start having now (for a decade or so later). But it’s not something we can talk about just four years ahead,” admitted Barrett.
With India interested in hosting its first Summer Olympics in 2036, this issue could also form an aspect of its bid. “This is something that will have to be part of countries’ bids: finding the right location and the right timing, rather than finding a cooling solution at venues at the last minute,” said Marie Sallois, IOC’s Director of Corporate and Sustainable Development.
Sallois and Barrett added that countries interested in hosting future Olympics could make their bids more creative, not restricting all sports events to one city or even one state and thinking of “cross-border” solutions as well.
Bach added that there might be easier workarounds in some cases using simple “climate mitigation measures” like changing the times of competitions to early in the morning or late at night.Most Read
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Barrett added that any “climate mitigation measures” would be the purview of the international federations that are in charge of the sport to decide on.
“You will also see at the Paris Olympics next year, the marathon will be in the early hours,” Bach pointed out. “There can also be a future when Olympic summer sports events will be held in high altitudes because the temperature will be cooler up there than down in the valleys. You could imagine athletics events like cross country or 1500m events (happening in high altitudes).”
Barrett lent a slightly more hopeful outlook for the Summer Olympics. “For hosting the Summer Olympics, you could find solutions much more easily (to overcome climate change challenges). After all, you don’t need mountains for the Summer Olympics.”