Athletes will start to arrive in Rio de Janeiro in the next few weeks ahead of the Opening Ceremony for the Olympic Games on August 5th. They’ll be coming from a wide variety of countries and climates, the world’s finest competitors in sports as diverse as track & field, sailing, and golf. How will weather conditions impact their performance?
Acclimatization, or the adjustment of the athlete’s body processes to a major shift in the environmental conditions, is a priority for many participants leading up to the Games, especially those coming from climates significantly different from Rio de Janeiro’s. Some will need a week or more to grow accustomed enough to the Rio climate to expect peak performance. Despite the fact that Rio will technically be deep into the winter, athletes can expect to endure quite mild if not hot temperatures, averaging in the upper 70s but occasionally exceeding 90° F. Even within the track-and-field umbrella of events, the ideal temperatures for peak performance vary substantially. Long distance runners, such as those running the marathon, prefer rather cool temperatures between 49-52° with overcast skies. Temperatures of 80-85° or warmer have been shown to add as much as five minutes to the winning marathon times, an eternity for an elite long-distance runner. Contrast that with sprinters, whose optimal performance comes in temperatures around 72-73°. Humidity is also a telling factor, and many studies have found the closest correlation between weather and performance using the wet bulb temperature, a measure that combines standard temperature and moisture content.
Wind direction and speed also have significant impacts on the performance of world-class runners. If helping wind speeds exceed 2 m/s (about 4.5 mph), any records set by sprinters will not be counted, though races will still be run and medals awarded. Athletes participating in sports whose objective is to propel an object as close as possible to a target (such as archery or golf) can be significantly impacted by wind blowing the object randomly off course. Wind direction has a major bearing on sports like rowing and canoeing as well. Rowing crews working with a tailwind will turn their oars square to the wind to act like sails, but edge-on to slice through a headwind. A crosswind can give rowing teams on the lee (or less windy) side of the lake a distinct advantage by reducing chop. On the other hand, some sports, like sailing, depend on having some wind.
Rainfall is not uncommon in Rio in July, although it’s statistically the driest month of the year. Some sports, such as tennis, cannot be played with any rain falling. Most the Olympic sports can be played with some light rain falling, but will postpone when there’s lightning in the area. Athletes in a few sports, like rugby, seem to revel in sloppy or muddy conditions! When heavy rainfall significantly reduces visibility or creates standing water on the playing surface (common with cycling events, for instance), a weather delay may be in order. Athlete performance can also be adversely affected by air pollution levels. Leading into the 2008 Beijing games, strenuous efforts by Chinese officials, along with rain and favorable shifts in wind direction, improved air quality readings there but pollution levels were still above the World Health Organization’s safety standards, 2-3 times the levels of previous Summer Games. Fortunately athletes coming to Rio can expect better air quality in which to practice and compete.
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