HEAT IMPACTS AND ADAPTATION MEASURES FOR THE SUMMER OLYMPIC GAMES UNDER CLIMATE CHANGE AT THE END OF THE 21ST CENTURY

Abstract

 With the progression of climate change, there are concerns about the effects of heat on sporting events, including the Summer Olympic Games. In this study, we evaluated the heat impacts and adaptation measures for the Summer Olympic Games under climate change in cities worldwide, focusing on nine outdoor sports for which heat guidelines with explicit upper thresholds are specified. The results show that the number of possible host cities of the Summer Olympic Games at present will decrease by up to 40% by the end of the 21st century, with particularly significant decreases in Asia and North America. On the other hand, the decrease of the possible host cities could be reduced to less than 10% by combining adaptation measures such as changing the timing of the Summer Olympic Games and holding the Summer Olympic Games in multiple cities in a country. The results of this study show that the effects of heat are more significant than in the previous study that focused only on a single event (marathon), suggesting that an integrated evaluation of multiple sports is important to assess the feasibility of a multi-sport event such as the Summer Olympics Games.