Heat on for a cooler Games
The Athens Olympics will potentially be the hottest Games in the last 50 years of the event, an Australian sports scientist said yesterday. David Martin is one of 34 scientists in the physiology department at the Australian Institute of Sport (AIS) working on devising new cooling method. He is testing athletes’ warm-up routines to determine how they need to be adapted to deal with what are expected to be high summer temperatures in Athens. Martin said warm-up times could thus be slashed by up to two-thirds. The AIS has turned to engineers from the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology (RMIT), who have developed a cooling vest that helps keep athletes’ core body temperature in check before they compete. Preparations for Athens for Australian cyclists also involve riding a stationary bike while watching a projected image of the Olympic course. (AFP)
