The bad weather in Rio has delayed many sports events. How much influence does the weather have on sports events?

The first situation is that bad weather will directly stop the competition. For example, violent storms often restrict the outdoor competitions, and athletes who exercise in high temperature and heat above 35℃ will cause heatstroke shock.

the second situation is that it affects the performance of athletes. If athletes encounter high-impact weather, their performance will be affected. For example, in the women's discus competition of Rio Olympic Games on August 15th, 1 of the 17 players failed in the first throw in the qualifying round. The preliminary analysis was that the discus was slippery due to heavy rain. Caballero, the world champion from Cuba, failed to throw discus in succession, and did not play the best level. He only reached the final with the sixth place in the qualifying round.

the third category is to affect the exertion of physical fitness, so that athletes can't exert their true level or "overload" and consume their physical fitness. For example, proper temperature can improve the physical efficiency of athletes; Excessive temperature or humidity not only accelerates human perspiration and body heat dissipation, but also significantly reduces the amount of oxygen that athletes breathe, thus affecting the metabolism of carbon dioxide or the normal performance of physical fitness.

So, how exactly do weather conditions affect various sports events?

precipitation

the influence of precipitation on the competition can not be ignored. In heavy rain or rainstorm, many outdoor sports are forced to stop in heavy rain. In addition, because the track is muddy and slippery in rainy days, it takes a lot of effort for track and field athletes to run, which is not conducive to creating the best results. In the bad weather on August 15th, Jamaican Carter, who participated in the 11m hurdles preliminaries of the Rio Olympic Games, fell down in the race because of the wet track, and only ran for 14.1 seconds. However, the tournament finally agreed that Carter and other four players would play an extra round. Carter ran 13.51 seconds in the extra round and was able to advance to the next round. Also affected is the high jump competition. Xue Changrui, a Chinese athlete, said after the competition that "this rainstorm made me wet all over, causing heat loss and chills, and I felt cramped. I was really powerless."

As an outdoor sport, football matches are often played in heavy rain. Rain will increase the physical burden of players, make the court soft, reduce the friction between sneakers and the court, reduce the running speed of players, and aggravate the danger of slipping and falling. During the 13th World Cup, which was famous for its king Diego Maradona's "Hand of God", a hurricane hit Mexico, the host country. In the 1/8 final between Argentina and Uruguay, the technology and speed of both sides were greatly reduced due to the torrential rain. Not only that, due to the player's excessive movements, there were 7 yellow cards and 64 free kicks in the audience, and only one goal was scored.

Temperature

Sports in hot weather, especially sports with a large amount of exercise, can easily cause dehydration, thermal cramps, heat exhaustion, heatstroke and other phenomena. When the dehydration of ordinary people reaches 3%, it will lead to the decline of exercise ability and the symptoms of heat disease. In all sports competitions, the marathon has the greatest intensity, the longest duration and the largest human heat. If these calories are not distributed in time, they will accumulate in the body and cause fever, such as heatstroke and severe fainting, which will lead to death. In addition, middle and long-distance running, cycling, equestrian and speed horse racing, triathlon, tennis and other competitions are also greatly affected by high temperature. The competition temperature of softball, baseball and beach volleyball is higher than 38℃, which will seriously affect the physical strength of athletes.

Just like the high temperature, the low temperature will affect the competition results. When the temperature is too low, it is easy to cause colds and exercise asthma; Muscle activity is not open, tendons are tense and stiff, which is easy to sprain, and body stiffness leads to uncoordinated movements. For example, during the 12th Winter Olympic Games, due to the cold wave, the temperature plummeted, and 24% of the contestants caught a cold, including the battle-hardened world champion.