EUGENE, Ore. (AP) — The U.S. Olympic team is one of only a handful to have air conditioning in Olympic stadiums.
EUGENE, Ore. (AP) — The U.S. Olympic team is one of the few to provide air conditioning for its athletes at the Paris Games, a move that could undermine organizers' plans to reduce carbon emissions.
U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Federation CEO Sarah Hirshland said Friday that the U.S. team appreciates sustainability efforts but that the federation will supply air conditioning units to what is typically the largest contingent at a Summer Olympics.
“As you can imagine, consistency and predictability are critical to the U.S. team's performance at this time of year,” Hirshland said. “In our discussions with the players, this was a very high priority and they felt it was an important component to their ability to perform.”
The Washington Post reported earlier this month that countries planning to import air conditioners to France include Germany, Australia, Italy, Canada and the United Kingdom.
Olympic organizers have touted plans to use a system of under-floor cooling pipes to cool rooms in the Athletes' Village, where more than 15,000 Olympic athletes and officials will stay during the Games.
The average high temperature in Paris on August 1 is 26°C (79°F). The goal is to keep indoor temperatures between 23-26°C (73-79°F). Rooms will also be equipped with electric fans.
“We want Paris to set an example from an environmental point of view,” Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo said of the Olympic plans.
Fewer than one in 10 European households own an air conditioner, and the figure is even lower in Paris, according to the International Energy Agency. Of the 1.6 billion air conditioners in use worldwide in 2016, the study found, more than half were in China (570 million) and the United States (375 million). The European Union as a whole had around 100 million.
The Olympics will mark the most important milestone in the sporting careers of the more than 10,500 athletes gathering in Paris, leading some prominent countries to neglect environmental commitments in favor of comfort.
“This is a high-performance environment,” Australian Olympic Committee spokesman Strauss Gordon explained to The Washington Post.
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