Too hot to handle?

With temperatures reaching 50 degrees Celsius in the Qatari capital of Doha, London’s bid to host the 2017 World Athletics Championships might have seemed like a shoe-in.

But since Fifa decided Doha would be the right place to host the 2022 World Cup its bid looked promising.

For the 2017 athletics bid, Qatar officials acknowledged concerns about heat in the 40,000 capacity Khalifa Stadium. Sheikh Bin Abdulrahman al-Thani, chairman of the Doha bid, said that moving the games to the end of September, instead of the usual June or July, would reduce temperatures to 40 degrees Celsius.

Air-conditioned stadiums

While this temperature would still be unbearable for some, Qatar insisted that new state-of-the-art air-conditioning methods will cool temperatures for athletes and spectators in games to come. Mr al-Thani said that the World Athletics Championships evaluation committee had witnessed the “first generation cooling system” in the country, developed four years ago.

“Now we are working on the second generation, which will be solar powered,” he said. “We are offering a solution not only for Qatar but for the region. Some countries face cold weather, some face hot weather. Some countries need heaters in the roof, they are looking for a solution for the cold weather.”

Qatar’s World Cup bid was secured on the premise that each of the 12 stadia will have air-conditioning. A small-scale model was provided, showing how solar energy would be used to create electric air-conditioning to reduce temperatures from 45 to 25 degrees Celsius.

‘Overwhelming’

Construction consultancy firm Baker Wilkins and Smith, has helped build sports stadiums across the Middle East, overseeing Basra Sports City and assisting with the Yas Marina Circuit in Abu Dhabai amongst others, and it is likely to be involved in Qatar’s forthcoming sports stadiums.

To keep temperatures low in the Basra Sports City, John Vint, Baker Wilkins and Smith Director told Channel 4 News that the stadium was specifically designed so that prevailing winds would be channelled to create a breeze, “facilitating natural ventilation rather mechanical”.

Qatar’s 2022 stadium is still very much in the planning stage and any proposals are not set in stone, said Mr Vint, “but the idea of air-conditioning the volume of air in a stadium is quite overwhelming. In theory the air-con would work. Cold air, being heavy, sinks and therefore the necessity is really to air-condition the area people will be in 20 foot above the track and let it flow down.”

Traditional methods

But is air-conditioning such a huge space really necessary? Footballer Asamoah Gyan, who moved from Sunderland to play for United Arab Emirates club Al Ain in September seems to think so. He said recently that the climate for the 2022 Games would be “really, really difficult”.

“I don’t think people can survive [without air-conditioning] because it’s really, really hot,” said Mr Gyan.

It is about air movement, moisture in the air and it is about temperature at the right time of day. If we get it right…that is the way ahead. John Barrow, Populous Director

However John Barrow, director of the company Populous which is building the stadium, doesn’t agree. Speaking to delegates at the International Football Arena conference, he said that it would be hugely expensive and “notoriously unsustainable”.

“I think you can be more clever. It is about air movement, moisture in the air and it is about temperature at the right time of day,” Mr Barrow said. “If we get it right … that is the way ahead.”

Qatari officials have insisted that air-conditioning is still being considered. But Mr Barrow said that using traditional Arab wind towers will suck up hot air creating a fan-like movement in the stadium. He also said that unlike stadiums in the northern hemisphere, placing seats in the shade would get around a lot of the problems.

Impact of high temperature

The implications of athletes competing in hot conditions can be fatal. But Mr Barrow said that the limit of 26 degrees Celsius stated as part of the 2017 bid isn’t necessary for athletes, claiming that keeping the stadium at 30 degrees Celsius would be acceptable. In consideration of humidity, temperature and solar heat, the American College of Sports Medicine sets 30 degrees Celsius as the highest temperature for athletes.

However this mainly effects high endurance sports such as marathon or 10,000 metres where athletes are engaged for more than 30 minutes, says Dr James Bilzon, exercise physiologist and head of health at Bath University. “The human body is incredibly resilient and robust,” he told Channel 4 News. “Within 10 to 14 days of being exposed to a hot or humid climate, athletes will increase their ability to dissipate heat by the evaporation of sweat the skin surface.”

We adapt very readily to changes in our environment, but only to a point, warns Dr Bilzon: “Any increase in environment or humidity will tend to impair endurance exercise.”

Doha hopes to accommodate this by holding the marathon and race walk late at night under floodlights along the city’s waterfront.

As well as its plans to host the 2022 World Cup, Qatar also held the athletics Grand Prix in 1997, the Asian Games in 2006 and the Asia Cup in January this year. If it gets the 2022 World Cup temperature right, it could open doors to holding high profile stadium events across the Middle East.