Climate change and unfair or unsafe Olympic Winter Games conditions

It’s hard not to think about the future of winter sports this year. We finally have some snow in the forecast where I live. However, whether it will actually be a significant amount or stick around is yet to be seen. I’ve been making changes in my winter recreation already, with a lot more biking and, so far, zero skiing. But this isn’t just about what activities I can choose to be active with. Changing climate is also increasing the probability of unsafe conditions and for competitive sport unfair conditions.

Scott and colleagues (2023) explored the perspectives of athletes and coaches on the implications of climate change for the Olympic Winter Games. The International Olympic Committee (IOC) has identified poor weather as one of the greatest challenges. Sochi in 2014 was the warmest city ever to host the games and there were higher crash and injury rates due in part to low quality snow conditions. So what do coaches and athletes see as unacceptable?

Low and thin snow coverage, fog, and rain were problematic, as were responses such as cancelled training runs and late course changes. These all reduce performance. Wind, fog, fresh powder (or ungroomed snow) and low snow were identified as the least fair for competitions. While the least safe were fog, narrow snow coverage (thin snow on the edges of the course or on features), wind, wet snow, and cancelled training runs and late course changes. Heat stress from warmer conditions and equipment failures due to warmer temperatures were also identified.

So how will climate change impact this? Scott et al. looked at different emission scenarios and the impacts on past Winter Games locations. If we meet the low emission scenario (successfully meet the Paris Climate Agreement) there will be nine reliable locations and eight marginal locations. Four previous hosts are already unreliable. But if we follow a high emission pathway, by mid-century there would be four reliable locations and only one location at the end of the century.

Importantly, the authors also raise the importance for athletes to feel that they can express concerns about the conditions rather than being pushed to compete anyway and for organizations to establish clearer safety guidelines to prevent competitiveness from overriding safety concerns.

All of this emphasizes the importance of engaging in mitigation to reduce emissions. As one athlete stated, “Our sports are going to end unless there is serious change in the world” (p. 492).