Olympic competitors have been forced to adopt a host of cool measures to beat the soaring summer temperatures that will rocket to more than 30 degrees Celsius over the next two weeks.
Special suits and protective headgear as well as suggestions that competitors should stay away from the marathon opening ceremony have all been aired.
Even horses taking part in the equestrian programme are getting in on the act.
Germany’s Ulla Salzgeber put her dressage horse Rusty under a sun lamp with the 16-year-old gelding spending 30 days soaking up the artificial rays in the stables.
The British eventing team acclimatised their horses by draping them under thick, heavy police cloaks, neck cover included, to make them sweat a lot in preparation for their outing under the fierce Greek sun.
Meanwhile, Australian Olympic team doctor Brian Sando has advised athletes competing in the first few days of the Olympics not to march in the opening ceremony.
Sando said it would be unwise for athletes to stand for long periods over what would be an eight-hour exercise.
”Athletes are very fit people who use a lot of dynamic muscles and larger muscle groups to propel themselves in their sport … they’re not used to this sort of workload, and that provides other aches and pains that takes two or three days to overcome in many instances.”
Sando said it would be ”totally inappropriate” for athletes involved in the first day of competition to consider marching.
Sando’s directive echoes the one given to legendary Aussie swimmer Dawn Fraser at the 1964 Tokyo Games. Fraser ignored the advice and sneaked into the ceremony anyway — before winning gold in the 100m freestyle.
Two of the American beach volleyballers have taken a leaf out of Sando’s book.
Holly McPeak and Elaine Youngs are skipping the opening ceremony preferring to rest ahead of their opening match on Saturday.
”It starts at 3.30pm and it ends at around 11pm and you still have to get back to the Olympic village,” said McPeak. ”It’s really a long time to be on our feet and it’s very hot here.”
Dutch rower Dirk Lippits will don a futuristic-looking helmet, designed to help keep his head temperature as low as possible, when he opens his campaign on the waters of the Schinias Olympic Rowing and Canoeing Centre on Saturday.
The helmet is made from a single piece of nylon and coated white to reflect the intense rays of the Athens sun. The accessory is designed to give him a handsome advantage over his bareheaded rivals.
History shows that planning protection from the sun can pay dividends.
At the Melbourne Games in 1956, British 50km walker Don Thompson had been in sight of a gold medal with just 5 000 metres to go but he collapsed with the finish line in sight.
So, to acclimatise to the heat of Rome four years later, he would spent hour after hour exercising in his bathroom into which he had packed heaters, hot-water bottles and boiling kettles.
With the doors sealed, the temperature in his Middlesex home reached a whopping 38 degrees Celsius.
It worked out perfectly. In the Italian capital on race day, the blistering sun sent the temperature storming to 30,5 degrees Celsius and with a handkerchief stitched by his mother on to the back of his cap, he walked to a well-deserved gold medal. — Sapa-AFP
Special Report: Olympics 2004