Olympic marathon and other distance events will slow under the sun
The record books for endurance and tournament events will be safe at next month's Olympic Games because of Georgia's muggy heat.

"In the cold you run for time, in the heat for a place,'' said Phil Sparling, of Georgia Institute of Technology's exercise research laboratory.

"You won't be seeing records broken in events lasting longer than 15 to 20 minutes. It's not going to affect the sprint events, it's going to affect the endurance and tournament events," Sparling told a seminar on the effects of the heat on the Centennial Olympics in Atlanta.

The Atlanta Committee for the Olympic Games (ACOG) staged the seminar as a result of fears that the heat and humidity will pose a dangerous threat to athletes and spectators.

But officials said they were confident the extensive measures they were planning, including shade tents at venues and misters and sprayers for spectators and athletes, would keep dangers to a minimum.

The city is working with the Red Cross, the Salvation Army, and a host of other organizations to ensure that water stations and shade tents will never be far away for the throngs expected to descend on Atlanta.

The average high temperature in Atlanta during the Olympic period of July 19 to August 4 is 91 degrees (33C), said Lans Rothsfusz of the National Weather Service's Olympic bureau.

But last year the average high was 97 degrees (36C) during the Olympic time slot, and the mercury hit 100-plus (more than 40C) on several consecutive days.

Joe Wilson, the marathon medical officer, said his team would take treatment to the runners rather than waiting for them to come to medical stations during the gruelling road race of 26 miles and 385 yards (42.195 km).

The men's race has been moved from late on August 4, immediately before the closing ceremony, to early in the morning of the same day to ease the heat stress on runners.

"In Barcelona, one third did not finish the men's race," said Wilson. "We would expect a large number to need medical assistance or evaluation through the race (in Atlanta)."

But he said Atlanta had no plans to spray the asphalt course, as the evaporating water would create a humid micro-climate which would tax the runners.

Wilson said that at last week's U.S. track and field Olympic trials at Atlanta's Olympic stadium, 283 spectators were treated, 20 percent of them for heat-related illness.

Of the 163 athletes treated at the trials, 38 percent were heat-linked and 27 had to receive intravenous infusions.