Reuters – The Tokyo Olympics are being played amid a pandemic, with the Japanese capital in a state of emergency amid a record spike in COVID-19 cases. But athletes, leaders and staff also face another pervasive and deadly health threat: heat.
Heatstroke risks at one of the hottest Olympic Games on record are run not only by athletes, but also by thousands of staff members, especially at outdoor venues.
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In addition to conventional measures in, such as water spraying and fans, the organizers are turning to high technology, deploying a cloud-based system from the Chinese giant Alibaba Group to monitor the conditions of the personnel in real time and send warnings and advice before danger signs.
A Russian goalkeeper fainted from the heat and skaters complained that conditions were oppressive at 09:00 local time, with highs of more than 30 degrees Celsius and unbearable humidity. The tennis program was also changed by the weather following constant complaints from the players.
To prevent heat stroke at the Olympics, staff at 14 venues wear a black headset that sends heart rate and body temperature measurements to the cloud, where heat stroke risks are assessed using an algorithm that combines individual data. and environmental factors.
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The system sends alerts to those at high risk of heat stroke through an app, with recommended precautions such as resting and drinking more water.
Alibaba Cloud said it worked for years with the organizers of the Olympics to launch the device.
As climate change is a growing challenge for outdoor sporting events, “we started trying to use our cloud computing technology to accelerate all digitization,” said Selina Yuan, general manager of Alibaba’s international business unit. Cloud.
The device complements measures such as the change of some outdoor competitions to less suffocating hours of the day, the transfer of the marathon to Hokkaido, in the north, and mechanisms that range from mist spray stations for the horses to cooling vests for the referees. .