Heat risks add to challenges for Tokyo’s pandemic-hit Olympics

TOKYO – Searing heat, dripping humidity, and face masks: it’s going to be a sweaty Tokyo Olympics and while coronavirus measures are top priority, heatstroke remains a serious risk, experts warn.

Long before the pandemic forced Tokyo 2020’s postponement, the Japanese capital’s brutal summer heat was the main health concern for organisers.

While the Games have been held in places that are hotter or more humid than Tokyo, including Athens and Beijing, Japan’s sweaty summers offer both, in an unpleasant and sometimes deadly combination.

Organisers have moved the Olympic marathon and racewalks to the northern island of Hokkaido, hoping to outrun temperatures that can hit 37 degrees Celsius and humidity over 80 percent.

And with spectators now banned…