Professor
Chris Gore, head of Physiology at
the Australian Institute of
Sport, has had over 20 years experience in the science of sport at
altitude, including the study of the physiological effects of altitude
on the body and designing altitude training regimes for athletes.
The
effects of altitude have been known for some time, however their
effects on sport became prominent during the 1968 Mexico
Olympics, which were held at over 2000 metres. At these games,
endurance sports suffered whilst records were set in sprint events. Many
games in the current 2010 FIFA World
Cup are being held at altitude, and all of the highly professional
teams have had some form of altitude training before the competition.
I spoke to Chris about the
science of sport at altitude, including the physiological effects on the
body, the different physics that apply to sports played at altitude,
how altitude training works and the ethics of artificial altitude
training. This question
came in from the guys at Green
and Gold Rugby as part of our call
for science stories for science week. With the World Cup currently
being played at altitude, I thought it best to bring this particular
question forward - thanks for the question guys! I will be writing up a
more comprehensive story on the topic soon.
