Is the climate crisis threatening the Olympics? | in.gr

The Olympic Games of 2024 opened the same week that Earth recorded its hottest day on record.

Another kind of record-breaking is what would excite the athletes in Paris, but the climate crisis is making it difficult for organizers to keep the tournament on track.

The month-long downpour during the opening ceremony and its aftermath strained the city’s 200-year-old sewage system. The resulting discharge of untreated sewage delayed the organization of the triathlon, which includes a swimming race in the Seine River.

Heavy rain in the French capital over the weekend was quickly replaced by sweltering heat. Such a violent switch between two extreme weather events is characteristic of Earth’s changing climate, according to a new study.

Extreme weather, extreme sports

Scientists have long warned that warmer air holds more moisture.

The Earth has warmed by about 1.5°C since the organized burning of fossil fuels began, adding 10% more water vapor to the lower atmosphere and making storms rainier.

What remains less clear is how all that extra moisture will be distributed. New analysis suggests it will be much more uneven, with torrential rains following droughts in quick succession and more annual rainfall falling in a given location in fewer days, according to the The Conversation.

This happened in Paris, and the city’s water treatment system – built in a largely pre-industrial climate – was poorly prepared.

“Now it’s hard to imagine any sport in the world that doesn’t face the prospect of making serious concessions to extreme weather, either now or in the future,” says Mark Charlton, a lecturer in public policy at De Montfort University.

Marathons now run at midnight, bike races have been reduced and ski seasons shorter and shorter.

In fact, winter sports face a particularly dubious future. The International Olympic Committee has delayed its decision to select the host city for the 2030 Winter Olympics due to the gloomy outlook for snowy weather.