Female archer collapses: Heat is a major problem for Olympians


Archer collapses
Heat is a major problem for Olympians

There is no relief in sight: a Russian archer collapses in Tokyo’s humid heat, a German rower has to go into a wheelchair after her run. The extreme weather causes problems for the Olympians. And it will get worse at the beginning of the next week.

Not only games in the pandemic, but also in great heat – and now a storm threatens the Olympic city of Tokyo. A subtropical low pressure zone over the Pacific is likely to form a typhoon and set course for the Japanese main island, as the local weather expert Ai Hasebe announced on Twitter. Meanwhile, the Russian archer Svetlana Gombojewa suffered heat stroke in the qualifying round on Friday morning. The German rower Leonie Menzel ran out of strength in the high temperatures and humidity.

The expected typhoon could affect the Kanto region around Tokyo early next week. Caution seems advisable, said Hasebe of Tokyo Zokei University. The storm warning also caused shifts in rowing. Due to extensive changes to the racing calendar, the Germany eighth has to go one day earlier than planned – instead of on Sunday, the parade boat will make its first appearance on Saturday in the run-up to Romania, Australia and the USA. All races originally planned for Monday, which are now to be held following the competitions on Sunday, are also affected by the postponements.

After moving into the wheelchair

At the same time, the conditions are enough to create for the athletes. In the end, Menzel from Düsseldorf had problems rowing on the Olympic regatta course in the Sea Forest Waterway and could no longer operate at full speed. The double scull Annekatrin Thiele / Leonie Menzel was last in the run-up and has to go into the hope run. After the race, 22-year-old Menzel was driven into a nearby functional building in a wheelchair, but a little later she was back on an ergometer with a cooling vest.

Menzel’s trainer Thomas Affelt gave the all-clear a short time later. “It was a combination of exertion and heat, because it was a tough on-board battle. The cycle was always stable, it’s just that the athletes push their limits when it matters,” he said . The temperatures around noon (local time) were just over 30 degrees in the shade.

According to a Twitter message from the Russian Olympic Committee, “everything is fine” with the 23-year-old archer Gombojewa. She had been supplied with water by doctors in Yumenoshima Park, according to the ROC. At noon she returned to the Olympic village with the Russian team.

“Humidity plays a big role”

“Of course we prefer to shoot when there is no wind and 22 to 24 degrees. But that shouldn’t have any influence,” said national coach Oliver Haidn. They had trained well in advance – also “with regard to heat tolerance”. She can handle heat, said Lisa Unruh, who won the Olympic Games in Rio 2016, “but this humidity is very difficult because the hands slip”.

“The humidity plays a big role. It makes the difference. In some cases it will be around 90 percent, which will be a challenge for the endurance disciplines,” warned the German Olympic doctor Bernd Wolfarth.

The great German rowing hope Oliver Zeidler, on the other hand, got along very well in his sovereign prelim victory. “In the preparation the conditions were much worse. So I thought it would be heavy here,” said the one specialist from Ingolstadt. However, he had meticulously prepared for the weather in Japan and even installed a heat chamber in his parents’ house in Munich: The former swimmer switched on the sauna, turned on the shower and provided plenty of foil for a Japanese climate while he did units on the rowing ergometer or completed a bicycle.

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