Staff members at the Tokyo Olympics.Photo: Zhang Chuanqi/Xinhua via Getty Images
During Thursday morning’s track and field events, an announcer at the Olympic Stadium said that staffers charged with moving the hurdles and starting blocks between or during races had started wearing gloves to handle the items.
Athletes have spoken about the grueling conditions, which have many of them using ice vests to cool down after their events.
Speaking to PEOPLE while chatting with reporters after the U.S. women’s 4x100m relay team came in second in qualifying, English Gardner said that though the temperatures and humidity made it harder to breathe as she’s still recovering from aCOVID-19bout earlier this year, the racers are pushing through.
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“I guess when you’re a champion you can’t really think about the outside sources,” Gardner said. “Everything is race day and that’s all we really have to concentrate on. We wanted to go out there and execute our hand-offs so we kinda blocked out the heat, blocked out the wonderful crowd that we heard out there and we just really got out and did our job.”
And on the golf course, American Nelly Corda told reporters she felt “lightheaded” on Wednesday with the heat index hitting 111 degrees.
“I think the mental aspect is probably the hardest just because you have to keep yourself hydrated and you kind of lose it a little out there,” she said,according toUSA Today.
“When I was teeing up some balls, I definitely felt a little lightheaded,” Korda continued. “But kept myself in it and made sure I drank a lot of electrolytes, too.”
To learn more about Team USA, visitTeamUSA.org. Watch the Tokyo Olympics now on NBC.
source: people.com
