The Games of the 32nd Olympiad would have come to a close in Tokyo on Sunday had it not been for the postponement caused by the novel coronavirus pandemic.
Since temperatures in Tokyo remained relatively low for most of the Games' original schedule, sports associations taking part in the event, which originally braced for extremely hot weather, will likely need to prepare for a wider scope of weather variations next summer.
The rainy season persisted until Aug. 1 in Tokyo this summer, ending 11 days later than average. From July 22, the day Olympic events would have started, to the end of July, only three days recorded temperatures above 30 C. While there were days with rain and wind, weather would have been mostly comfortable for athletes and spectators at outdoor events, who were feared to have a risk of heatstroke.
On the other hand, the overall not-so-hot temperature might have confused sports associations because they expected and prepared for scorching heat.
"If it's like this summer, it'll be completely different [from what we had expected]. That's the difficult part," said Hitoshi Inada, the manager of Japan's women's rugby sevens.
Since Aug. 1 the mercury has soared above 30 C day after day, but is yet to surpass the record temperatures during the same period last summer.
From Aug. 4, the wet-bulb globe temperature (WBGT), an index for high temperatures during the daytime, regularly rose above 31 C, which under Japan Sport Association guidelines requires all sports to be suspended.
"It's easier to prepare and take necessary steps when we know what kind of weather to expect, like, will it just be hot, or will there be very strong rain and winds," said Kazuo Asada, head of the Weathernews Inc. sports weather team in Chiba that analyzes weather information and supports many sports associations. "I can imagine [athletes and sports associations] would have had a hard time preparing [if the Games went ahead this year]."
It remains to be seen whether everyone involved can make the most of what has been unexpectedly learned, when the Games take place next summer.
Read more from The Japan News at https://japannews.yomiuri.co.jp/
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