The Paris furnace is heating up with temperatures reaching 37 degrees: after the torrential rain on the opening day, the 2024 Paris Olympics are facing the expected heatwave, which is expected to be short-lived, with thunderstorms on the horizon, as often happens in the City of Light after intense heat episodes.
Prime Minister Gabriel Attal personally assured that the weather situation in the Paris region is being “monitored hour by hour”. At the moment, he stated cited by BFMTV, there are no “decisions to reschedule or postpone” the scheduled events.
Regarding the scorching heatwave, the so-called ‘canicule’, as the French call it, it is expected to “intensify in the coming hours moving into the northern region,” before “decreasing from tomorrow”. “I particularly urge the most vulnerable to be cautious,” is the warning issued by Attal as authorities implement the ‘Canicule Plan’ to respond to the heat emergency.
Agenzia ANSAFirst day of heatwave at the Games, alert at 35 degrees – 2024 Olympics News – Ansa.it
No air conditioning in the Village. Risk of thunderstorms (ANSA)
Ile-de-France Governor Valérie Pécresse even personally distributed water bottles in metro stations, and the IOC organizers sent text messages to warn spectators about the high temperatures. In front of the Olympic facilities, water sprays and fountains were crowded, and according to experts appearing on TV networks, even the sports performances will be affected by the heat: athletes will not be able to perform at their best, although the French host team can rely on the so-called ‘thermo room’, a special room set up in the Bois de Vincennes that allows those who wish to acclimatize to the temperature change.
Agenzia ANSAPolluted Seine, men’s triathlon race postponed – 2024 Olympics News – Ansa.it
Due to the pollution of the Seine, the men’s triathlon race valid for the 2024 Paris Olympics has been postponed. Instead of today, it will take place on Wednesday. Anger and disappointment of the French athletes (ANSA)
Furthermore, at the Olympic Village, there is no air conditioning in the rooms in compliance with the “eco-friendly” guidelines of the Olympics, and it seems that people are improvising with duct tapes to protect themselves from the relentless sun behind the windows. If in recent weeks, there were criticisms of the delegations from the United States, Canada, and Great Britain, who had outright rejected the idea of letting their athletes sleep without air conditioning and had installed their own air conditioners in the rooms, even the French team has decided not to be too subtle, with fans if not portable air conditioners in all rooms and even in the gyms. The heatwave alert – with free parking in Paris to encourage those who have remained in the city not to use their cars – does not exclude the risk of severe thunderstorms.
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Paris 2024: athletes fleeing the Olympic Village
The risk of new precipitation, the main factor of Seine pollution, leaves a question mark over the men’s Triathlon events, initially scheduled for today and postponed to tomorrow due to pollution, in a continuous exhausting dance of allowed or prohibited values. Thunderstorms in the Paris region could be “locally violent,” although it is “very difficult” to predict exactly where they will strike, an expert from La Chaîne Météo tells the France Presse agency. Rainfall could reach between 30 and 50 mm, and the winds could blow up to 80 km/h in some areas, which could – with a conditional note – “disrupt” some events. But it is also possible that this time the turmoil will spare the Olympic capital.
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