Paris Olympics: Geothermal rooms, hi-tech recovery space for athletes

Indian Olympic Association to organisers: Ensure all our rooms have fans

After it descends on Paris next month for the biggest sporting spectacle on the planet, India’s Olympic contingent will be accommodated in apartments equipped with geothermal system, and have a state-of-the-art enclosure dedicated to the athletes’ recovery, in first-of-their-kind initiatives.

Ahead of the marquee event that begins on July 26, the Indian Olympic Association (IOA) has put forward a specific request with the organisers: “Please ensure all our rooms are equipped with fans.” 

In the midst of an impending heat wave in France, this is India’s way of ensuring its athletes stay cool, while also aligning with Paris’ sustainability drive and environmental efforts. 

“If the Olympics movement is on sustainability, then why should India go against it?” Raghuram Iyer, the chief executive officer of IOA, tells Business Standard.

“The organisers have been saying the Paris Games will be the most environment-friendly, and advocating against the use of air-conditioners,” Iyer elaborates. “We believe that our athletes have good tolerance levels. Having said that, we are taking all the necessary precautions.” 

This is unlike the contingents from the United States, Germany, Australia and Great Britain, which are coming with portable air-conditioners.July and August can become unusually warm in France, something former long jumper and Khel Ratna winner Anju Bobby George attests to.  

“I was in Paris in 2003, when India won the first medal in the World Championship in Athletics. That year was the hottest ever recorded in France,” George tells Business Standard.

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On August 1 this year, the average high temperature in Paris is expected to touch 26 degrees Celsius — which is less than the kind of heat India experiences in summers.

The organisers of the Paris Olympics are not taking chances. “They are using a system of cooling pipes that run beneath the floors of apartments to keep temperatures down,” Iyer explains.

In the apartments, a geothermal system will send cold water through pipes that are fortified into concrete floors, which act as a buffer, thus bringing temperatures down. 

The Athletes Village has been built next to the Seine river, which will help increase cross ventilation. 

The organisers have also added a thick canopy of forest cover, comprising 500 trees in the vicinity.

The complex will house over 15,000 Olympians, officials and journalists from across the globe for the two-week extravaganza that culminates on August 10.

For the first time, India will have a dedicated, state-of-the art recovery room for its athletes.

Under the aegis of Dinshaw Pardiwala, the chief medical officer of the delegation, a team of doctors, nutritionists and sleep therapists will be working round the clock to ensure India’s Olympic athletes sleep well and perform at the peak of their powers.

“We have been provided with a 600 sq ft recovery room in the Athletes Village,” Iyer says. 

“It will have inflatable baths, normatec arms (for tension-relieving massage), massage tables, and yoga mats. The list is long.” 

During the 2021 Tokyo Olympics, recovery rooms at the Games Village typically had only a massage table and a refrigerator.

The IOA is also toying with the idea of providing cooling pillows to its athletes if temperatures rise. A cooling pillow helps absorb heat to prevent night sweats, and is designed with a fabric that lowers temperature by up to 5 degrees Celsius. “We are consulting our medical teams on this,” Iyer says.

According to the International Energy Agency, less than one in 10 households in Europe have air-conditioning. 

In Paris, that percentage drops even further. Even fans are a rarity in most households across Europe.

The conversation around heatwave has gained currency after the recent Rings of Fire report, a collaboration between 11 Olympians and climate scientists from the University of Portsmouth, warned that the extreme heat forecasts in the French capital could lead to competitors collapsing and — in worst-case scenarios — dying.

Game-ready

> Athletes to be housed in geothermal apartments by the Seine to keep temperatures down

> Contingent to have state-of-the-art recovery room with doctors, nutritionists, sleep therapists

> India has asked for fans in every room

> IOA is considering cooling pillows that help absorb heat to prevent night sweats