Tokyo 2020 Organizers Looking to Beat the Heat During the Marathon

By Adam Kopet

Olympics organizers for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics have been exploring ways to potentially beat the heat after heatwaves this past summer killed at least 120 people. Of particular concern to organizers is the marathon.

The Tokyo Olympics are scheduled to officially take place from July 24 to Aug. 9. July and August are Japan's hottest and most humid months of the year.

According to Reuters, one proposal for limiting the effect the heat could have on the marathon was to adopt daylight savings time, shifting the time schedule by as much as two hours. However, that proposal has been unpopular with the Japanese people and is unlikely to be pursued. South Korea adopted daylight savings time in 1987 and 1988 for the 1988 Olympics in Seoul, but did not continue its use afterward.

The Tokyo Metropolitan Government experimented with wetting the pavement along the marathon course to see if water would help limit pavement temperatures, according to Japan Running News. Despite cloudy conditions, the water covered pavement did help limit the temperature of the pavement. This experiment was also conducted to help spectators who are expected to line the course.

Plans to help athletes in the marathon include using sprayers on the course to spray a fine mist of water on athletes as they pass by and the installation heat-suppressing pavement along the marathon course.

Heat was less of a concern when Tokyo hosted the Olympics in 1964. Those games took place in October.