Pragnya Mohan has been a professional triathlete for nearly a decade, but summers in her native India are now so hot that she can\u2019t train there anymore. She escaped the heat to train in the United Kingdom, but worries about a day when a warming world kills her sport entirely.
American discus thrower Sam Mattis described temperatures as high as 44 Celsius at the 2021 US Olympic trials in Eugene, Oregon, causing some fans, officials and athletes to pass out. And New Zealand soccer player Katie Rood recalled training in heat chambers to prepare for the Tokyo Olympics, and warmups cut short in high heat and humidity.
All three spoke at the United Nations climate summit in Baku, Azerbaijan to talk about the threat that climate change poses to them, to fans and to sport itself. With billions of fans worldwide, they\u2019re among athletes and leagues trying to get more people to care, and act, on climate change.
\u201cIn the future, if climate change is not addressed and is not thoughtfully handled, triathlons can cease to exist,\u201d Mohan said at a panel discussion.
It\u2019s not all about heat. Mohan noted this year\u2019s Paris Olympics had to delay some triathlon events because heavy rains \u2014 which have increased as a warming atmosphere holds more water \u2014 contributed to high bacteria levels in the Seine River.
Some top soccer clubs have gotten together in a climate action alliance aimed at reducing emissions and inspiring fans to act on climate change. One of those is La Liga club Real Betis.
Rafael Muela Pastor, general manager of the club\u2019s foundation, said at another panel in Baku that soccer is \u201cthe most powerful and massive sport in the world\u201d and it\u2019s crucial that \u201cwe have to do something.\u201d \u201cWe have a super power and we have a responsibility with that,\u201d he said.
Leslie Mabon, a lecturer on environmental systems at the United Kingdom\u2019s Open University, said athletes can raise awareness on issues like global warming, but the most transformative activism often comes from elsewhere.
\u201cI do think athletes can move the needle, but sometimes it\u2019s away from the very highest levels,\u201d said Mabon. \u201cThe financial implications of what\u2019s at stake do make it very difficult, and particularly the governing bodies \u2014 the leagues, the FIFAs of this world \u2014 it\u2019s very hard to get them to take action.\u201d
FIFA \u2014 the governing body for world soccer \u2014 was unmoved by concerns about heat and human rights in holding the 2022 World Cup in Qatar, a country criticised for its treatment of migrant workers, among other issues. And at times, outwardly positive actions from sports leaders can be little more than greenwashing.
FIFA President Gianni Infantino attended COP29 and posted on Instagram about extending a partnership with Pacific Island nations to foster \u201cclimate-resilient football development\u201d and raise awareness about climate change. That came just months after FIFA signed a sponsorship deal with Saudi Arabia\u2019s state oil giant Aramco.
Women soccer players from around the world signed an open letter urging FIFA to end the deal, citing both the country\u2019s record on the rights of women and LGBTQ+ people and the impact of fossil fuel production on climate change.
FIFA did not immediately respond to a request for comment from The Associated Press.
\u201cIt\u2019s very hard for anything that comes from the top levels to be taken seriously or to be taken credibly when you still have these kind of deals in place,\u201d Mabon said. Climate change is also making sports more expensive and widening disparities. Jessica Murfree, assistant professor of sport administration at the University of North Carolina, said athletes will have to travel farther and spend more to train and compete as some places become incompatible with sport because it\u2019s too hot or there isn\u2019t enough snow.
\u201cThat\u2019s going to have a massive impact on athletes and athlete hopefuls,\u201d she said. \u201cIt drives a bigger socioeconomic wedge between the haves and the have-nots, which then becomes a justice issue.\u201d
Sports are seeking to adapt to a hotter planet. Sometimes competitions get moved to different places, or starting times get shifted to cooler parts of the day. Then there\u2019s technology: Qatar spent billions to air-condition stadiums at its World Cup to keep fans and players cool. But sports can\u2019t air-condition its way out of the climate crisis, said Rood, the New Zealand soccer player.
The energy it requires \u201cis a huge cost to the environment,\u201d she said in an interview, adding: \u201cIt\u2019s not just the isolated events that happen once or twice a year. It\u2019s the training and the lead-up \u2026 those conditions can\u2019t necessarily be created every time.\u201d
And that\u2019s concerning for Tina Muir, a former elite runner from the United Kingdom who talks about the threat of climate change through the business she founded, Running for Real. Athletes are conditioned to push themselves beyond their limits, she said.
\u201cIt\u2019s going to be almost like a war of attrition for many athletes,\u201d Muir said. \u201cIt\u2019s who can handle these tough conditions the most. \u2026 but also becomes a bit of a safety game, being able to tough it out but doing long-term damage to yourself in the process.\u201d (AP)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Pragnya Mohan has been a professional triathlete for nearly a decade, but summers in her native India are now so hot that she can\u2019t train there anymore. She escaped the heat to train in the United Kingdom, but worries about a day when a warming world kills her sport entirely.American discus thrower Sam Mattis described […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[395],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-461553","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","category-opinion"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nagalandpost.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/461553","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/nagalandpost.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/nagalandpost.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nagalandpost.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nagalandpost.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=461553"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/nagalandpost.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/461553\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nagalandpost.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=461553"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nagalandpost.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=461553"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nagalandpost.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=461553"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}