Picture this: you are the school’s cross-country representative, running around the track in preparation for the upcoming inter-school championships. You typically enjoy running; it leaves your senses feeling refreshed. Yet you find yourself dreading today’s run. Acrid smoke fills the air, with every breath feeling like a punch to the airways. Dust and fine particles enter your eyes, clouding up your vision. You want to speed up, but your suffocating lungs are crying out for rest. Running has never felt so difficult.
The above scenario may seem far-fetched, but it depicts the reality of many Olympic athletes who struggle to perform amidst polluted conditions in host cities. As you might recall, city-level air pollution is caused by high levels of road traffic stemming from short-term surges in tourist numbers (Gruben, Moss and Moss, 2012). Specifically, ozone and particulate matter are mainly emitted, altering the chemical composition of surrounding air which not only causes atmospheric change, but also worsens air quality. It is precisely the latter that poses health risks to athletes, hence inhibiting their potential to break Olympic records.
Athletes face risks of breathing problems and worsened performance when competing in polluted host cities (Owton, 2015).
While mostly studied for its radiation-trapping abilities, ozone remains notorious for causing respiratory irritation. The United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA, 2021a) has found that ozone inhalation results in the constriction of airway muscles, subsequently inflaming the airways and causing breathing difficulties. Similarly, Lippi, Guidi and Maffulli (2008) report that ozone intake reduces expiratory volume, leading to constrained exhalation and wheezing. The most alarming discovery, however, is that these effects are strongest in the afternoon when endurance sports competitions are mostly held, thus putting athletes at risk. As ozone is formed when nitrogen oxides and hydrocarbons react under ultraviolet radiation, ozone levels peak at midday when ultraviolet radiation levels are highest (Sandford, Stellingwerff and Koehle, 2020). This increases the severity of respiratory symptoms, thus making it difficult for endurance athletes to perform as endurance sports require high aerobic demand.
Endurance sports athletes are particularly susceptible to respiratory irritation, given their high exposure to ozone at midday when competitions are held (Woodward, 2021)
Similarly, particulate matter — which refers to inhalable solid particles suspended in the air (EPA, 2021b) — can impair respiratory functions and athletes’ long-term physical abilities if overly inhaled. Particulate matter combines with sulfur dioxide and water vapour, which are gases also emitted by fuel-consuming vehicles, forming acid-coated particles that deposit in athletes’ lungs and cause irritation (Lippi, Guidi and Maffulli, 2008). Under prolonged inhalation, such inflammation can extend to other nerve tissues (Van Hee, 2012), eventually threatening athletes’ coordination and agility.
Given the sheer potency of these pollutants, it is thus unsurprising that even elite athletes have fallen victim to air pollution-induced health effects. The next post will explore the ineffectiveness of pollution adaptation measures and case studies of athletes whose performance has been hindered due to respiratory complications, so stay tuned!
References
Gruben, K. H., Moss, S. E., & Moss, J. (2012). Do the Olympics create sustained increases in international tourism?. Journal of International Business Research, 11(1), 135-150.
Lippi, G., Guidi, G. C., & Maffulli, N. (2008). Air pollution and sports performance in Beijing. International journal of sports medicine, 29(8), 696-698. https://doi.org/10.1055/s-2008-1038684
Owton, H. (2015, September 8). Polluted host cities are putting our champion athletes at risk [Online image]. The Conversation. https://theconversation.com/polluted-host-cities-are-putting-our-champion-athletes-at-risk-46830
Sandford, G. N., Stellingwerff, T., & Koehle, M. S. (2020). Ozone pollution: a ‘hidden’ environmental layer for athletes preparing for the Tokyo 2020 Olympic & Paralympics. British Journal of Sports Medicine, 55(4), 189-190. https://doi.org/10.1136/bjsports-2020-103360
United States Environmental Protection Agency (2021, May 5). Health Effects of Ozone Pollution. https://www.epa.gov/ground-level-ozone-pollution/health-effects-ozone-pollution#:~:text=Ozone%20can%20cause%20the%20muscles,and%20sore%20or%20scratchy%20throat
United States Environmental Protection Agency (2021, May 26). Particulate Matter (PM) Basics. https://www.epa.gov/pm-pollution/particulate-matter-pm-basics#:~:text=PM%20stands%20for%20particulate%20matter,seen%20with%20the%20naked%20eye
Van Hee, V. C. (2012). From Olympians to mere mortals: the indiscriminate, global challenges of air pollution. American journal of respiratory and critical care medicine, 186(11), 1076-1077. https://doi.org/10.1164/rccm.201209-1594ED
Woodward, A. (2021, August 12). Runners wearing Nike ‘super shoes’ dominated in the Olympics, taking more than 60% of podium spots [Online image]. Business Insider. https://www.businessinsider.com/nike-runners-trounce-olympics-competitors-super-spike-shoe-technology-2021-8