RUNNING OUT OF OPTIONS TO HOST WINTER GAMES

Climate change could turn out to be the Winter Olympics’ biggest spoil sport. An updated study led by geography professor Daniel Scott at the University of Waterloo says the number of places cold enough to host the Games is dropping. The average temperature during the seven Winter Olympics prior to 1960 was 0.4C. At the 11 held between 1960 and 2000, it was 3.1C. In the four this century, it was 7.8C. The trend is partly because the IOC is picking warmer places. Sochi, Russia, which staged the Games in 2014, is a subtropical re- sort town where Russians go to escape winter. Vancouver, which hosted in 2010, is second only to nearby Victoria as the warmest place in Canada in winter. But even so, every one of the 19 cities that hosted the Games prior to this year is warmer in the winter now than it was when they hosted, said Scott. By midcentury, global warming will mean only 11 of them will still be cold enough to reliably host the Games again. In Canada, Calgary and Edmonton are realistically the last ones standing as potential host cities.