Australian sports scientists have devised a way for their athletes to master the heat and humidity at this month’s Beijing Olympics, reports said yesterday.
Competitors will drink “slushies” made of crushed ice and electrolytes in a bid to battle the 30˚C-plus temperatures that the Australians believe will be a bigger threat than Beijing’s chronic pollution.
“It is a concentrated way to eat ice. It’s going to act as a heat sink and make the athlete’s body much cooler,” said Louise Burke, chief dietician at the Australian Institute of Sport.
“A glycerol component is going to act as a sponge for water. So rather than weeing out all that sports drink, as you’d normally do if you over-drink, the athlete is able to keep it in his or her body,” she told ABC Television.
Burke said the formula lowers an athlete’s initial core temperature to 36˚C, giving the competitor a 1˚C head start in beating the heat.
“The science shows that drinking a slushie helps keep you cool and it’s easier than vests and towels and that sort of thing,” women’s field hockey coach Frank Murray told the Australian newspaper.
Murray said the “slushie science” had been perfected after the men’s and women’s hockey teams went to Beijing for a test event in August last year.
“We have to take every opportunity because the competition is so close,” Murray said.
Burke said they had even worked out how to prevent “brain freeze,” the headache that occurs when you consume cold foods.
“You put your tongue on the top of your mouth,” Burke said. “We’ve got all angles covered. Hopefully, when it is all over, we’ll load up the slushie machine with margaritas and celebrate all the gold medals.”
Kosovo Olympic authorities have asked the International Olympic Committee (IOC) to open disciplinary proceedings against Novak Djokovic, accusing the Serb of stirring up political tension by saying “Kosovo is the heart of Serbia” at the French Open. Djokovic wrote the message on a camera lens following his first-round win on Monday, the same day that 30 NATO peacekeeping troops were hurt in clashes with Serb protesters in the Kosovo town of Zvecan where Djokovic’s father grew up. “Kosovo is our cradle, our stronghold, center of the most important things for our country,” 36-year-old told Serbian media. Serbian authorities said 52 protesters were wounded
Unable to sleep the night before her first-round match at the French Open against second seed Aryna Sabalenka of Belarus, Marta Kostyuk of Ukraine checked her phone at 5am on Sunday and saw disturbing news back home in Kyiv. At least one person was killed when the capital of Kostyuk’s nation was subjected to the largest drone attack by Russia since the start of the war, launched with an invasion assisted by Belarus in February last year. “It’s something I cannot describe, probably. I try to put my emotions aside any time I go out on court. I think I’m better than
China has long been the sleeping giant of men’s tennis, but on Monday the giant stirred as Shanghai trailblazer Zhang Zhizhen advanced to the second round of Roland Garros. One of three Chinese men in the draw, Zhang became the first from the nation to win a main draw match at Roland Garros in 86 years after Serbian opponent Dusan Lajovic retired due to illness when trailing 6-1, 4-1. Compatriots Shang Juncheng and Wu Yibing bowed out in defeat, but 26-year-old Zhang has a big chance to go further when he takes on Argentine qualifier Thiago Agustin Tirante for a place in
Novak Djokovic seemed ready to move on from non-tennis issues at the French Open on Wednesday, while two of the four Taiwanese at the tournament advanced in the women’s doubles, with one due to play last night. Serbia’s Djokovic beat Marton Fucsovics of Hungary 7-6 (7/2), 6-0, 6-3 in the second round of the men’s singles and wrote on the lens of a TV camera — an autograph and a smiley face. It was quite different from what happened after his win on Monday, when Djokovic wrote in Serbian: “Kosovo is the heart of Serbia. Stop the violence.” He spoke about the matter
RSS