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ATHLETICS-WORLD-IAAF-COE-QAT-OLY-2020-JPN
Coe more worried by heat at Tokyo Olympics than Doha worlds
ZURICH, Aug 30, 2019 (BSS/AFP) – IAAF President Sebastian Coe says he is
more worried about the potentially searing heat at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics
than the world championships in Doha, which begin next month in a
temperature-controlled stadium.
All previous nine world championships held this century have begun in
August, but the edition in the Qatari capital has been moved to September 27-
October 6 because of concerns over the desert state’s weather.
Marathons and race walks will even be held at midnight and traditional
morning sessions have been scrapped.
Temperatures in Doha for the biennial track and field showpiece, being held
for the first time in the Middle East, could easily hit 35 degrees Celsius
(95 degrees Fahrenheit) with accompanying high humidity.
But Qatari officials have turned to technology, installing cooling systems
at the expensively refurbished Khalifa International Stadium to guarantee
ambient trackside temperatures for athletes and even spectators.
Fears over intense heat and humidity in the Tokyo summer, however, have
crystallised at several Olympic test events in recent weeks, with some
competitors and spectators taken ill and other events curtailed.
Tokyo Games organisers have also moved up the starting times for some
sports, including the marathon, over fears for athletes’ wellbeing.
– First-class facilities in Doha –
“Actually, peversely, the management of the heat is going to be a bigger
one in Tokyo than it will be in Doha,” Coe told AFP in an interview in
Zurich.
“The technology at the Doha stadium is jaw-dropping. I’ve sat in the
stadium, it’s been 38-40 degrees C outside and it’s 23.
“The technology for the athletes is going to be first class, the indoor
warm-up facilities air-conditioned, the call areas also.
“Under our auspices (in Doha) we have the technology in the stadium where
the athletes are probably going to be competing in perfect conditions.”
Coe added: “It’s interesting because Doha has given us the opportunity to
do a lot of work behind the scenes around the management of heat in
competitors.”
Coe also played down any concerns over the potential threat of a boycott.
Since June 2017, Qatar has been isolated by a group of former allied
neighbouring countries, including Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates and
Bahrain, who cut all ties with Doha, accusing it of supporting Iran and
extremist groups.
Qatar refutes all allegations, but the World Athletics Championships will
be a significant global sporting and political test for the crisis and those
involved, coming three years before the football World Cup is held in Qatar.
Last year, Qatar was due to hold the football Gulf Cup but this was
switched to Kuwait — the mediator in the crisis — after it was clear the
boycotting countries would not attend.
“I have been a jobbing politician for many years and a government minister
and I’m pretty comfortable that we’ll have full teams there,” said Coe, who
was an elected Conservative member of parliament in Britain.
“There is a sensible, grown-up recognition in that region that you can have
your political tensions but that sport is important.”
BSS/AFP/GMR/0855 hrs