Issued on: 12/07/2021 -
Tokyo has been notorious for its stifling summer for years CHARLY TRIBALLEAU AFP
Tokyo (AFP)
Searing heat, dripping humidity, and face masks: it's going to be a sweaty Tokyo Olympics and while coronavirus measures are top priority, heatstroke remains a serious risk, experts warn.
Long before the pandemic forced Tokyo 2020's postponement, the Japanese capital's brutal summer heat was the main health concern for organisers.
While the Games have been held in places that are hotter or more humid than Tokyo, including Athens and Beijing, Japan's sweaty summers offer both, in an unpleasant and sometimes deadly combination.
Organisers have moved the Olympic marathon and racewalks to the northern island of Hokkaido, hoping to outrun temperatures that can hit 37 degrees Celsius and humidity over 80 percent.
And with fans now banned from nearly all Games events over virus fears, the risk of large crowds sizzling in the sun is no longer a concern.
But athletes, who will have little time to acclimatise because they are only allowed to arrive just before competition, could still suffer.
"Holding the games during July and August... was a serious issue even before the coronavirus pandemic," Haruo Ozaki, chairman of the Tokyo Medical Association, told reporters recently.
"There are still high risks of heatstroke at events such as competitive walking, triathlon, and beach volleyball," even after moving the marathon and racewalking, he warned.
At test events in summer 2019, organisers rolled out a variety of anti-heat measures: 1,360 tonnes of ice to cool athletes, tents for shade, ice cream for volunteers and mist fans and artificial snow for spectators.#photo1
Even so, several people were treated for suspected heatstroke at a beach volleyball event and 10 people including athletes fell ill at a rowing test event.
Ironically, Tokyo won its bid to host the Olympics, beating out rivals including Doha, in part by boasting of its "mild" weather.
But the city has been notorious for its stifling summer for years. The last time it hosted the Games, in 1964, the event was shifted to October to beat the heat.
And it has only got hotter in recent years, with climate change and urbanisation exacerbating the trend, according to experts.
- 'Not possible to eliminate risk' -
A report published in late May by the British Association for Sustainable Sport (BASIS) warned "intense heat and high levels of humidity are a threat to athletes at the 2021 Tokyo Olympics".
British rower Melissa Wilson told the report she felt her sport was "approaching a danger zone" given rising temperatures at events around the world.
"It's a horrible moment when you see athletes cross the line, their bodies fling back in total exhaustion and then not rise up," she said.
In pre-pandemic 2019, more than 71,000 people sought emergency care for heatstroke across Japan, with 118 deaths during the June-September period.
And even in 2020, with fewer people out and about, emergency care cases stood at just below 65,000 with 112 dying.
Doctors in Tokyo have warned organisers that medical emergencies during the competition -- including heatstroke -- could divert resources away from the domestic coronavirus response.
The pandemic could complicate things, with rules requiring athletes to "wear a face mask at all times, except when training, competing, eating, drinking, sleeping or during interviews".
A Tokyo 2020 official told AFP that the rules would be "flexible depending on the situation" given the risks of heatstroke -- allowing people to go mask-free when "outside and able to keep two metres apart from others".
Masks in hot weather could cause people to feel ill and have difficulty breathing, "even if this is not heatstroke in a strict sense", said Shoko Kawanami, a professor at the University of Occupational and Environmental Health in western Japan.
"It's important that spectators and volunteers take off their masks if they feel uncomfortable... making sure they keep a distance from crowds."
Japan's weather agency forecasts this July-August period in Tokyo will be hotter than average, and even a small rise in temperature "will have a major impact on whether the event is safe to run," Ben Bright, head coach at the British Triathlon Federation, told the BASIS report.
"It is not possible to eliminate risk."
Tokyo (AFP)
Searing heat, dripping humidity, and face masks: it's going to be a sweaty Tokyo Olympics and while coronavirus measures are top priority, heatstroke remains a serious risk, experts warn.
Long before the pandemic forced Tokyo 2020's postponement, the Japanese capital's brutal summer heat was the main health concern for organisers.
While the Games have been held in places that are hotter or more humid than Tokyo, including Athens and Beijing, Japan's sweaty summers offer both, in an unpleasant and sometimes deadly combination.
Organisers have moved the Olympic marathon and racewalks to the northern island of Hokkaido, hoping to outrun temperatures that can hit 37 degrees Celsius and humidity over 80 percent.
And with fans now banned from nearly all Games events over virus fears, the risk of large crowds sizzling in the sun is no longer a concern.
But athletes, who will have little time to acclimatise because they are only allowed to arrive just before competition, could still suffer.
"Holding the games during July and August... was a serious issue even before the coronavirus pandemic," Haruo Ozaki, chairman of the Tokyo Medical Association, told reporters recently.
"There are still high risks of heatstroke at events such as competitive walking, triathlon, and beach volleyball," even after moving the marathon and racewalking, he warned.
At test events in summer 2019, organisers rolled out a variety of anti-heat measures: 1,360 tonnes of ice to cool athletes, tents for shade, ice cream for volunteers and mist fans and artificial snow for spectators.#photo1
Even so, several people were treated for suspected heatstroke at a beach volleyball event and 10 people including athletes fell ill at a rowing test event.
Ironically, Tokyo won its bid to host the Olympics, beating out rivals including Doha, in part by boasting of its "mild" weather.
But the city has been notorious for its stifling summer for years. The last time it hosted the Games, in 1964, the event was shifted to October to beat the heat.
And it has only got hotter in recent years, with climate change and urbanisation exacerbating the trend, according to experts.
- 'Not possible to eliminate risk' -
A report published in late May by the British Association for Sustainable Sport (BASIS) warned "intense heat and high levels of humidity are a threat to athletes at the 2021 Tokyo Olympics".
British rower Melissa Wilson told the report she felt her sport was "approaching a danger zone" given rising temperatures at events around the world.
"It's a horrible moment when you see athletes cross the line, their bodies fling back in total exhaustion and then not rise up," she said.
In pre-pandemic 2019, more than 71,000 people sought emergency care for heatstroke across Japan, with 118 deaths during the June-September period.
And even in 2020, with fewer people out and about, emergency care cases stood at just below 65,000 with 112 dying.
Doctors in Tokyo have warned organisers that medical emergencies during the competition -- including heatstroke -- could divert resources away from the domestic coronavirus response.
The pandemic could complicate things, with rules requiring athletes to "wear a face mask at all times, except when training, competing, eating, drinking, sleeping or during interviews".
A Tokyo 2020 official told AFP that the rules would be "flexible depending on the situation" given the risks of heatstroke -- allowing people to go mask-free when "outside and able to keep two metres apart from others".
Masks in hot weather could cause people to feel ill and have difficulty breathing, "even if this is not heatstroke in a strict sense", said Shoko Kawanami, a professor at the University of Occupational and Environmental Health in western Japan.
"It's important that spectators and volunteers take off their masks if they feel uncomfortable... making sure they keep a distance from crowds."
Japan's weather agency forecasts this July-August period in Tokyo will be hotter than average, and even a small rise in temperature "will have a major impact on whether the event is safe to run," Ben Bright, head coach at the British Triathlon Federation, told the BASIS report.
"It is not possible to eliminate risk."
Olympics host city Tokyo enters fresh Covid-19 emergency as Games near
Spectators have already been banned from nearly all venues for the Tokyo Games because of the pandemic.PHOTO: REUTERS
TOKYO (REUTERS) - Olympic host city Tokyo entered a fresh state of emergency on Monday (July 12), less than two weeks before the Games begin amid worries whether the measures can stem a rise in Covid-19 cases.
Organisers last week announced that spectators would be banned from nearly all venues, all but depriving Japan of hopes for a Games with public spectacle.
Spectators from abroad had been banned months ago and officials are now asking residents to watch the Games on TV.
"We would ask people to support athletes from home," Chief Cabinet Secretary Katsunobu Kato said on a Sunday TV programme.
The Games, postponed from last year because of the pandemic, run from July 23 to Aug 8, while the state of emergency - the capital's fourth - lasts until Aug 22, shortly before the Paralympics begin.
The government and organisers had long seen the event as a chance to display the country's recovery from a devastating 2011 earthquake and nuclear crisis.
On Saturday, the governor of Fukushima prefecture, site of the nuclear disaster, said spectators would also be banned from softball and baseball games there, reversing an earlier decision.
World No. 1 tennis player Novak Djokovic said on Sunday he was "50-50" about competing at the Tokyo Olympics following the organisers' decision to ban fans from attending and limits on the number of people he can take to the Games.
Some of the sport's biggest names, including Rafa Nadal, Dominic Thiem, Stan Wawrinka, Nick Kyrgios, Serena Williams and Simona Halep have already announced decisions to skip the Games.
Japan has not seen the explosive coronavirus outbreak occurring elsewhere but has recorded more than 815,440 cases and nearly 15,000 deaths.
The recent rise in the number of infections in Tokyo has been particularly worrisome amid a vaccination roll-out that got off to a slow start and has faced supply glitches after speeding up. Only about 28 per cent of the population has received at least one shot of a Covid-19 vaccine.
Tokyo recorded 614 new cases on Sunday, the 22nd straight day of week-on-week gains, and many areas were crowded with shoppers.
The coronavirus curbs include asking restaurants to close early and stop serving alcohol in exchange for a government subsidy, measures that have hit the eateries hard and caused many to complain of unfairness as the Games are set to go ahead.
Economy Minister Yasutoshi Nishimura, who is in charge of the pandemic response, sparked outrage when he suggested late on Thursday he would ask banks to put pressure on eateries that do not comply with the stricter measures.
In an about-face, the government's top spokesman Kato said on Friday it had decided banks would not be asked to press restaurants and bars that do not follow the government request to stop serving alcohol under the emergency restrictions.
But Mr Kozo Hasegawa, president of Global-Dining Inc, which runs 43 restaurants including one that inspired a bloody fight scene in the movie Kill Bill: Volume I, said on Friday that he would not obey the rules and would open as normal.
TOKYO (REUTERS) - Olympic host city Tokyo entered a fresh state of emergency on Monday (July 12), less than two weeks before the Games begin amid worries whether the measures can stem a rise in Covid-19 cases.
Organisers last week announced that spectators would be banned from nearly all venues, all but depriving Japan of hopes for a Games with public spectacle.
Spectators from abroad had been banned months ago and officials are now asking residents to watch the Games on TV.
"We would ask people to support athletes from home," Chief Cabinet Secretary Katsunobu Kato said on a Sunday TV programme.
The Games, postponed from last year because of the pandemic, run from July 23 to Aug 8, while the state of emergency - the capital's fourth - lasts until Aug 22, shortly before the Paralympics begin.
The government and organisers had long seen the event as a chance to display the country's recovery from a devastating 2011 earthquake and nuclear crisis.
On Saturday, the governor of Fukushima prefecture, site of the nuclear disaster, said spectators would also be banned from softball and baseball games there, reversing an earlier decision.
World No. 1 tennis player Novak Djokovic said on Sunday he was "50-50" about competing at the Tokyo Olympics following the organisers' decision to ban fans from attending and limits on the number of people he can take to the Games.
Some of the sport's biggest names, including Rafa Nadal, Dominic Thiem, Stan Wawrinka, Nick Kyrgios, Serena Williams and Simona Halep have already announced decisions to skip the Games.
Japan has not seen the explosive coronavirus outbreak occurring elsewhere but has recorded more than 815,440 cases and nearly 15,000 deaths.
The recent rise in the number of infections in Tokyo has been particularly worrisome amid a vaccination roll-out that got off to a slow start and has faced supply glitches after speeding up. Only about 28 per cent of the population has received at least one shot of a Covid-19 vaccine.
Tokyo recorded 614 new cases on Sunday, the 22nd straight day of week-on-week gains, and many areas were crowded with shoppers.
The coronavirus curbs include asking restaurants to close early and stop serving alcohol in exchange for a government subsidy, measures that have hit the eateries hard and caused many to complain of unfairness as the Games are set to go ahead.
Economy Minister Yasutoshi Nishimura, who is in charge of the pandemic response, sparked outrage when he suggested late on Thursday he would ask banks to put pressure on eateries that do not comply with the stricter measures.
In an about-face, the government's top spokesman Kato said on Friday it had decided banks would not be asked to press restaurants and bars that do not follow the government request to stop serving alcohol under the emergency restrictions.
But Mr Kozo Hasegawa, president of Global-Dining Inc, which runs 43 restaurants including one that inspired a bloody fight scene in the movie Kill Bill: Volume I, said on Friday that he would not obey the rules and would open as normal.
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