The specter of heat stroke looms large over the Paris Olympics. But officials have a secret weapon to protect athletes in the heat wave blanketing the French capital: the “Heat Deck.” The ice water immersion tent first emerged at the Tokyo Olympics, where it helped save the life of a race walker whose body temperature soared to 108 degrees Fahrenheit. Its use in his survival has become part of a blueprint for combating extreme heat in sports, writes Ariel Wittenberg. Athletes, despite their peak physical condition, are uniquely vulnerable to heat stroke due to intense exertion and restrictive gear. The Olympics, once unprepared for extreme conditions, now stands at the forefront of heat illness prevention amid ever-rising temperatures. “It’s not a conversation that is going away,” said Rebecca Stearns of the Korey Stringer Institute, which works to prevent heat stroke in athletes. The Tokyo Olympics birthed a comprehensive heat plan, including the now-essential Heat Decks. But a changing climate continues to challenge the games in France, even beyond high temperatures (which climbed to 90 degrees today). Late last week, Paris got its typical monthly rainfall in just two days, flushing pollutants and E. coli into the Seine. That delayed the men’s triathlon from its scheduled start Tuesday. The beach volleyball stadium also saw volunteers hosing down spectators Tuesday — while players took breaks from the hot sand to drape ice over their heads and shoulders. Leading climate scientists have said that such blistering temperatures would have been "virtually impossible" without man-made climate change. Many Olympians signed onto a British Association for Sustainable Sport report, which called on organizers to schedule events during cooler hours, reassess fossil fuel sponsorships and amplify athletes’ voices on climate change. Michael Tipton, the report's lead author, stressed that athlete experiences should drive life-saving measures and climate advocacy. “Sporting fans tune into the Olympics for the spectacle, they want to see athletes compete at the top of their game, they want to see world records being broken,” he said. “But that’s not as likely to happen if the athletes have to worry about collapsing in the heat.”
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