Warming climate should be top priority, Olympians urge IOC presidential hopefuls

Karissa Donkin · CBC Sports

· Posted: Mar 14, 2025 1:00 AM EDT | Last Updated: 8 minutes ago

Canadian freestyle skier Philippe Marquis has ever felt astir astatine location successful the mountains, his playground a postcard of snow-capped beauty.

But the two-time Olympian has watched the spot helium loves astir alteration implicit his clip successful the sport, each due to the fact that of a warming climate. Less than a decennary ago, helium would bid into the summertime months connected Horstman Glacier successful Whistler. No more. The glacier was closed to summertime skiing and snowboarding past year due to a deficiency of snow.

Now a manager with Freestyle Skiing Canada's NextGen programme successful moguls, Marquis said athletes person been forced to trust connected man-made snow, which is harder and icier than earthy pulverization and tin beryllium pugnacious connected athletes' bodies. Schedules person been thrown successful a blender by weather-related changes, and with that, Marquis said the outgo to vie has increased.

"Seeing the changes astir the satellite is thing that I'm precise frightened of, and it's thing that is truly affecting maine and the athletics I dearly love," Marquis, who chairs the Canadian Olympic Committee's athletes' commission, said successful an interrogation with CBC Sports.

He's 1 of much than 400 athletes crossed the satellite who person signed a missive to the candidates vying to go the caller International Olympic Committee (IOC) president, urging them to marque clime their number-one priority.

IOC members from crossed the satellite volition stitchery successful Greece adjacent week for the IOC Session, wherever they will elect a caller president among 7 candidates. The candidates made their lawsuit privately to members astatine a closed-door lawsuit successful Switzerland successful January, with lone 15 minutes each to laic retired their vision.

Some person emphasized the clime much than others successful their nationalist platforms: Johan Eliasch, president of the International Ski Federation, described clime alteration arsenic an "existential threat" to the Winter Olympics and has pitched rotating those Games betwixt imperishable venues arsenic a much a sustainable option.

Meanwhile, World Athletics president Sebastian Coe, 1 of the beforehand runners, references the situation of clime alteration successful his level and vows to "embed ambitious biology goals into each facet of the Games, mounting caller standards for sustainability and greenish innovation successful sport," but doesn't elaborate connected those goals oregon however he'll execute them. Coe has said clime alteration whitethorn yet unit the Summer Olympics to the wintertime calendar.

The victor volition regenerate Thomas Bach, who has governed the largest sporting enactment successful the satellite since 2013, and volition officially instrumentality implicit successful June.

That idiosyncratic volition beryllium tasked with guiding the Olympic Games done a post-pandemic world, navigating challenges ranging from warfare and governmental instability to athletics integrity and jock safety.

They'll besides beryllium tasked with keeping the Games applicable among a younger procreation that consumes media successful a vastly antithetic mode than their parents and grandparents did. 

"[We need] a person who understands and embodies the affirmative values of sport, stands up for integrity, bully governance, and sustainability, fiscal and environmental, while advancing a harmless and inclusive sporting situation worldwide," Canadian Olympic Committee president Tricia Smith, who is an IOC subordinate eligible to formed a ballot successful the election, said successful a written connection to CBC Sports.

'No longer a distant threat'

But nary situation whitethorn beryllium bigger than a warming satellite and the utmost upwind that comes with it, the athletes who signed the missive to IOC candidates argue. Extreme vigor makes it much hard to program the Summer Games, portion less places are capable to big the Winter Games, owed to a deficiency of snowfall and melting ice.

"This is nary longer a distant threat, but a existent and increasing harm to the sports we emotion and to the countries that marque up our Olympic family," the missive says.

The athletes are calling for a gathering with the caller president, and for that idiosyncratic to fortify the IOC's commitments to "swiftly chopped c emissions." They besides telephone for the IOC to "set a standard" erstwhile it comes to "high-polluting sponsorships."

The missive includes signatures from much than 125 Olympic emblem bearers and much than 20 Canadians.

That includes athletes who won medals successful Paris past year, specified arsenic paddler Katie Vincent, volleyball subordinate Melissa Humana-Paredes, tennis subordinate Gabriela Dabrowski and weightlifter Maude Charron, who was 1 of Canada's emblem bearers astatine the Paris 2024 opening ceremonies.

About a period ago, Vincent went to a grooming campy conscionable extracurricular San Diego. Her radical was forced to find determination other to bid for a fewer days erstwhile an algae bloom closed the water they were expected to use. 

"They judge it was due to the fact that of the chemicals that entered the ungraded due to the fact that of the warring of the [Los Angeles] fires that trickled done the ungraded and ended up infecting the lake," said Vincent, who became an Olympic champion successful sprint canoe past summertime successful Paris.

The three-time Olympic medallist besides experienced warming temperatures passim her career, possibly astir notable during the utmost vigor of the Olympics successful Tokyo. It was immoderate of the hottest upwind athletes had managed, Vincent said.

Wildfire hazard successful absorption for LA 2028

The IOC has vowed to chopped its nonstop and indirect c emissions by 50 per cent by 2030, aligning with the Paris Agreement connected clime change.

In Paris, organizers opted to absorption connected impermanent oregon existing infrastructure to debar generating emissions that travel with gathering caller facilities. Organizers said the 2024 Summer Games reduced the c footprint of the games by much than 54 per cent compared to the mean successful London successful 2012 and Rio successful 2016.

But Los Angeles is successful the spotlight successful 2028, and wildfire hazard connected everyone's caput aft the toll of past fall's devastating blazes, which killed astir 30 radical and destroyed thousands of homes and different structures.

Vincent said it's a reminder of the work to marque definite they support the environment, which is wherefore she wants to marque definite it's astatine the apical of the IOC's priority list.

"It felt similar the close clip to adhd my sanction to that database and help proceed this speech with the IOC."