Olympic athletes risk the hottest weather in more than a century at the 2020 Tokyo Games as high summer temperatures in the capital highlight concern about holding global sporting events in extreme conditions.
Tokyo is set to host its second Summer Olympics in July and August, the hottest months in the city, where temperatures soared to 38 degrees last month. FIFA, soccer's global ruling body, will meet next month to discuss switching the 2022 World Cup to Qatar's winter amid concerns the summer heat would be unsafe for players and fans.
A temperature of 38 degrees or higher during the men's marathon at the Tokyo Olympics would make it the hottest in at least 120 years. The warmest marathon in the history of the Olympics took place in 1900 in Paris, when more than half the runners had to withdraw due to exhaustion as temperatures were estimated at between 35 and 39 degrees, according to the Journal of Sports Sciences.