Advertising

Supports

In 2020, men’s and women’s marathons and walking races are planned in Sapporo, 500 miles North of Tokyo.

Victor Mazer

The Olympic marathons in Japan next year will be moved from Tokyo to Sapporo because of the expected intense heat, the international Olympic Committee said on Wednesday.

Walking races are also expected to be moved to Sapporo, which is 500 miles North of Tokyo. Temperatures there in late July and early August are expected to be around 10 to 12 degrees cooler than Tokyo.

Warmth was the biggest concern for the games. At its latitude, Tokyo is one of the hottest cities in the world during the summer months in which the Olympics will be held; over the last 10 August, the average daily temperature was 82 degrees, with higher temperatures and humidity being in challenging conditions for sporting events. Hundreds of people die every summer from the intense heat.

The 1964 Tokyo Olympics were held in October because of this heat. But primarily because the I. O. C. wants to maximize its television audience and the money it can raise from media fees, especially in America, which pays the largest fee for broadcast rights, the 2020 Games were scheduled in the traditional summer window. Thomas Bach, President of the I. O. C., said the postponement of the games would create chaos in the international sports calendar and prevent top athletes from competing.

The last time the summer Olympics were held outside the window in July and August in 2000, when the Sydney games were held in late September. They remain the least watched summer games in the United States over the past few decades.

The Olympic Committee has since told candidate cities that the summer Games should be scheduled between July 15 and August 31, ruling out “exceptional circumstances.”

The Olympic Committee has taken several other steps to cope with the expected heat in Tokyo. Longer track races will be held in the evenings when it is cooler. The morning Rugby games will close until noon. Further changes are possible, the Committee said.

It is also planned to provide tents, water pumps, fans and sun visors for spectators.

At a canoe event in Tokyo in early September, organizers tried to cool spectators with shaved ice, but the experiment left fans soaked.

The Doha marathons began at midnight to avoid the heat of the day, but by the time the women’s race was over, about 40 percent of entrants had withdrawn – overwhelmed by midnight temperatures of about 90 degrees and humidity levels of more than 70 percent.

Advertising