A bedroom in the Olympic Village in Saint-Denis, north of Paris, pictured in February. The buildings will be cooled by an underfloor water pipe system rather than air conditioning.
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With just one month until the Paris Summer Olympics, air conditioning is becoming an increasingly hot topic.
Organizers have opted not to install air conditioning in the facilities that will house thousands of athletes and officials throughout the season in a bid to stage what they are calling the “greenest Olympics ever.”
Instead, the Athletes’ Village will be cooled by a system of water pipes installed under the floorboards.
“The village has been designed in such a way that even at very high temperatures it does not require air conditioning to maintain a comfortable temperature,” Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo said in March.
Last summer, France was hit by one of the hottest heatwaves in continental Europe’s history, with more than 5,000 people dying in the country last year as a result of the heatwaves.
Densely populated Paris has a higher risk of death from heatstroke than any other European city, and a new report warns that high temperatures could pose a deadly threat to Olympic athletes this year.
Officials aim to keep indoor temperatures between 73 and 79 degrees Fahrenheit, and fans will be provided.
However, the reaction from many competing countries was not necessarily calm.
The United States is one of a growing number of countries planning to provide players with portable units instead.
Sarah Hirshland, CEO of the United States Olympic and Paralympic Committee (USOPC), confirmed at a press conference on Friday that air conditioning will be installed in the rooms of Team USA members.
“In conversations with the athletes, this was a very high priority and they felt it was a key element to their ability to perform and the predictability and consistency of what they are used to,” she said, adding that the committee had “great respect” for the organisers’ focus on sustainability.
Asked who would provide the air conditioning, Hirshland said, “I believe the USOPC is responsible for that.”
The lack of air conditioning isn’t the only criticism this week: Parisians threatened to defecate in the Seine on Sunday to protest sewage pollution after reports showed dangerous levels of E. coli in the river, less than two months before the Olympic swimming events start.
Anyone else bringing AC?
The Olympic Village, pictured here in Saint-Denis in December, will be home to around 6,000 permanent residents after the games end.
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of The Washington Post Earlier this month it was reported that Canada, Britain, Italy, Germany, Greece, Denmark and Australia were among those planning to install portable air conditioners in some or all of their players’ rooms.
Some leaders of these countries have publicly stated that they plan to bring the troops home or obtain them in France.
Spyros Kapralos, president of the Greek Olympic Committee, said he would “spare no expense” for the athletes and would buy air conditioners or find sponsors to cover the costs, Euronews reported earlier this year.
Meanwhile, Australian authorities are spending more than $100,000 to keep the players cool.
“We appreciate the concept of not using air conditioning, given the carbon footprint,” Matt Carroll of the Australian Olympic Committee told reporters last year, “but this is a high-performance event. We’re not going to be a picnic.”
Japanese officials also said they would cover the cost of air conditioning for athletes for “safety and security” reasons, which they told The Japan Times last week they had ordered through organizers’ price list, a list of extra equipment available to athletes for an additional fee.
But not all countries can afford the cost of lowering the temperature at night to sleep.
“We are short on funds,” Uganda Olympic Committee president Donald Lukare told the Post.
Hidalgo, who opposes countries bringing their own troops, stressed earlier this year that Paris organizers had no intention of changing course.
“I think there are two reasons why we have to trust the science,” she says. “First, scientists are telling us the fact that we are on the brink of disaster. Everyone has to be aware of this, including athletes. Second, we have to trust the scientists if they are going to help us build in a calm way so that we can get by without air conditioning.”
Experts warn of extreme temperatures and risks to athletes
Olympic mascot Frigi stands on a balcony at the opening ceremony of the Olympic Village in Villeneuve d’Ascq, near Lille in northern France, where the basketball and handball teams are staying.
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The 2021 Tokyo Summer Olympics will be the hottest on record, with many athletes fainting or vomiting at the finish line, being carried off in wheelchairs or publicly expressing fears they would die from the heat.
Researchers have warned that temperatures could be even higher this year.
A group of scientists and athletes from around the world joined forces to warn of the dangers of the heat in the second Ring of Fire report, released last week.
The 37-page report outlines scientists’ predictions for high temperatures in Paris, athletes’ testimonials on the impacts of competing in extreme heat, and several key requests to organisers of summer sporting events.
That could include avoiding scheduling events during the hottest times of the day and reevaluating sponsorships with fossil fuel companies.
“For athletes, the impacts range from minor performance-impairing issues such as sleep disorders or last-minute changes to competition times, to deterioration of health, heat stress and injury,” World Athletics president Sir Sebastian Coe said in the foreword. “As global temperatures continue to rise, climate change must increasingly be recognised as an existential threat to sport.”
The report noted that nearly a century since Paris last hosted the Olympics in 1924, the city’s annual temperature has risen by around 35 degrees Celsius, with average temperatures during the Olympics rising by more than 37 degrees Celsius.
It also details some of the physical and physiological effects of competing in hot environments, from heat cramps to heat stroke, from cognitive impairment to reduced cardiovascular function.
It also highlights temperature restrictions for certain sports at venues in Paris, citing athletes’ comments about their past experiences competing in such conditions.
“For me it feels like I’ve hit the worst stage of a bad flu – I’m shaking non-stop, I feel funny, I get hot and cold,” New Zealand tennis player Marcus Daniel said. “I can’t concentrate, my mouth gets really dry. And the danger is that athletes, who are generally trained to push themselves beyond their limits, often don’t know when to stop.”
After the Olympics, the village will become a residential area.
A living room in the Olympic Village, where thousands of athletes and officials will live from July to September during the Olympic and Paralympic Games, pictured in February.
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Air conditioning is less common in Europe than in the United States, and is especially rare in France.
As of 2022, less than a quarter of French households own an air conditioner, compared with roughly 90% in the United States.
The Associated Press reported earlier this year that organizers are studying heat waves block by block throughout the athletes’ village and simulating those conditions to test cooling systems.
“Even though the temperature outside reached 41 degrees Celsius (106 degrees Fahrenheit), the temperature in most rooms was just 28 degrees Celsius (82 degrees Fahrenheit),” said Laurent Michaud, director of the Olympic and Paralympic Village. “Other rooms were noticeably cooler.”
He said players must follow certain basic requirements, such as keeping blinds closed during the day to maximise cooling.
Hidalgo, who has pledged to make Paris climate neutral by 2050, said the athletes’ village’s carbon emissions would be reduced by 45 percent during construction and for the duration of the Olympics, compared to a conventional project.
Between July and September, the village is expected to host 15,600 Olympic athletes and officials, and 9,000 Paralympic athletes and support teams, according to the Associated Press.
The 125-acre site will then become a “zero-carbon eco-friendly residential and commercial district.”
The first of the 6,000 new residents are expected to move in as early as 2025. Despite the Olympics fast approaching, Hidalgo is thinking even further ahead.
“What’s important to me is that these buildings, these apartments will be in the areas outside Paris where people live: L’Isle-Saint-Denis, Saint-Ouen and Saint-Denis,” she told Reuters in March. “These new buildings don’t need air conditioning, so we’re taking a long-term view.”
