Athletics and the Weather

Athletics is one of the worlds oldest sports, since it first began in ancient Greece athletes have been looking up to the skies and wondering what sort of conditions they will have to compete in. Athletics is divided into running, jumping and throwing events. Hot and cold, wet and dry weather affect the different events differently.

British Champion Kelly Holmes does warm weather training in South Africa, she says "You want to train in the best weather possible and our winter is their summer, so it makes sense.

Cool weather can put athletes’ bodies at risk of sporting injury. The Sydney 2000 Olympic Games unexpectedly suffered a cold spell, with thick snow falling just prior to the event. Some Australian athletes had severe muscle strains due to training in the cold. The British team stayed at their training base on the warmer Gold Coast until the last moment before the Olympics to avoid the problem.

Athletes are often faced with competing in temperatures that are significantly different to what they are used to. Before the London marathon in April 2002, the Ethiopian Olympic 10,000m champion Haile Gebrselassie was worried about our climate. Gebrselassie trains in the high altitude and warm weather of around 30C in Ethiopia. He was worried that if the London temperature fell below 20c his performance might suffer. In the end Haile came third behind two runners who were also used to hot weather on a fine day

The results themselves might not be affected by wind because all the athletes have to compete in the same conditions. Times, however are influenced by the wind. "Records will not be broken in bad weather" says commentator and former athlete John Ridgeon.

The sprinting and jumping events must comply to a International Athletics Federation maximum wind speed of 2 metres per second. If the wind speed is higher than the 2m/s limit race times will not be ratified as records. Long distance events are not stopped by strong winds as the runners go around a circular track which equalises the benefits and problems of the wind.

Professor of Physics at the University of Toronto, Jonas R. Mureika has created a formula that will adjust sprinting speeds according to head and tail winds and altitude. He applies this to sprints run in wind speeds of up to 1.9m/s which although ratified are still influenced by the wind and produces a truer time in a neutral weather.

Athletics competitions are now held on all-weather surfaces so rarely get rained off. Only torrential downpours seem outdo the drainage systems. Squeegies and brooms are used on the tracks to brush off any water that may have collected there. As throwing events are held on hard concrete pitches which do not drain well and athletes may slip at jumping events both are sometimes rained off

Kelly Holmes says of an actual race that "all the runners are running in the same climate, so the weather does not make too much difference." She goes on to say "when the weather is bad, my coach gets a hard time….he’s the nearest one!" Athletes definitely appreciate mild weather.