Why Virginia may never host the Summer Olympics
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Virginia will be too hot to host the Summer Olympics within the next 30 years.
Why it matters: Listen, we know that Richmond wouldn't have an Olympic stadium (or even a pro football team, for that matter), but scorching temperatures affect the health of athletes and attendees — Olympic or not.
The big picture: An Axios analysis of CarbonPlan data found that in 2050, 60% of the world will experience Wet Bulb Globe Temperatures (WBGT) above 82°F in the usual time period of the Summer Olympics.
- That's the American College of Sports Medicine's recommended threshold for canceling outdoor, continuous activity to avoid heat illness.
- And WBGT refers to a forecast tool that projects how much stress someone's body will be in when doing physical activity in direct sunlight.
Zoom in: CarbonPlan's models estimate that 92% of weather stations in Virginia will experience temperatures above the "cancel activity" level in 2050, compared to 50% of stations in 2020.
The intrigue: The International Olympic Committee is already planning heat protocols for the 2028 Summer Olympics in L.A.
- There's also the World Cup in 2026, which will partially be played in the U.S. in cities such as Miami, Atlanta and Dallas.
- Virginia doesn't have a World Cup spot, which makes sense since we can't even hold on to all of our NASCAR races.
Go deeper: Virginia's athletes dominate the 2024 Paris Olympics.