第2227期:Olympic Athletes Bring Cooling Technology to Paris Games

The 2024 Olympic Games open in Paris late next month and experts say especially hot summer weather is likely to return. Temperatures set record highs in Europe last summer and France’s national weather agency says it expects warmer than normal conditions this year.2024年奥运会将于下个月末在巴黎开幕，专家们表示，炎热的夏季天气可能会再次到来。去年夏天欧洲的气温创下了历史新高，法国国家气象局表示，今年预计气温将高于正常水平。Such weather brings additional difficulty to the already punishing climate of physical competition. The Olympic athletes will have to pay more attention to their body temperatures as they train, recover and compete.这种天气给本已严酷的体能竞争环境带来了额外的难度。奥运选手在训练、恢复和比赛时必须更加注意自己的体温。And the buildings in which athletes will stay during the event will not be equipped with air conditioning.运动员在比赛期间居住的建筑物将不配备空调。Craig Heller of Stanford University is an expert in body temperature regulation. Heller told the Reuters news agency, "It can be very hot and miserable (in Paris), as it was in Tokyo during the last Olympics...And that increase in environmental temperature has lots of effects on performance."斯坦福大学的Craig Heller是体温调节方面的专家。Heller告诉路透社：“巴黎可能会非常炎热和难受，就像上届奥运会的东京一样……环境温度的上升对表现有很大的影响。”Stanford University, in California's Bay Area, is well known for Olympic athletes. At least one medalist at every Games since 1912 has been linked with the school.位于加州湾区的斯坦福大学以奥运选手闻名。自1912年以来，每届奥运会都有至少一名与该校有关的奖牌得主。Stanford-connected athletes won 26 Olympic medals in the 2020 games in Tokyo and 27 in Rio de Janeiro in 2016.在2020年东京奥运会上，与斯坦福大学有关的选手赢得了26枚奥运奖牌，而在2016年里约热内卢奥运会上则赢得了27枚奖牌。As a result, Heller and other researchers at the school have had the chance to study body temperature regulation. And the school's closeness to Silicon Valley helped the tech industry enter the playing field.因此，Heller和该校的其他研究人员有机会研究体温调节。该校靠近硅谷也帮助了科技行业进入竞技场。Heller co-invented CoolMitt, a device worn like a glove on the hand. The device helps take out heat while cooling the blood. The cooled blood is sent back to the heart and to the athlete's muscles.Heller共同发明了CoolMitt，这是一种像手套一样戴在手上的装置。该装置帮助散热并冷却血液。冷却的血液被送回心脏并传送到运动员的肌肉。It is designed to be used during timeouts in games, in between sets and reps in the gym, or any short break in training or competition.它设计用于比赛暂停期间、健身房中间组和重复之间，或训练或比赛中的任何短暂休息期间。"If you take heat out of the core of the body, that prevents heat from building up in the active muscles, and they keep on working," Heller said.Heller说：“如果你把热量从身体核心带走，就能防止热量在活跃的肌肉中积聚，它们就能继续工作。”"So what CoolMitt does is prevents hyperthermia, rise in body temperature to a dangerous level. And therefore it enables you to have a higher work volume. And if you have a higher work volume, you get a bigger conditioning effect."“CoolMitt的作用是防止体温过高，防止体温上升到危险水平。因此，它使你能够进行更高的工作量。而如果你有更高的工作量，你会得到更大的调节效果。”The CoolMitt targets the non-hairy parts of the skin that "contain specialized vascular structures” that ease heat loss, a study says.研究表明，CoolMitt针对皮肤上不长毛的部位，这些部位“含有专门的血管结构”有助于散热。Once inside the glove, the palm rests on a special pad set to 10 to 12 degrees Celsius.手掌一旦进入手套，就会放在一个设定为10到12摄氏度的特殊垫子上。The pad draws the heat out while cooling the athlete's blood before it reaches the level of vasoconstriction, slowing the blood flow.垫子在血管收缩减缓血流之前将热量抽出，同时冷却运动员的血液。Tyler Friedrich of Stanford University works with athletes there, including some who went to Tokyo and are likely to go to Paris.斯坦福大学的Tyler Friedrich与那里的运动员合作，包括一些参加了东京奥运会并可能前往巴黎的运动员。"We know if we are overheating, we will not be performing at the level that we want or that we should be. And so regulating heat and regulating core temperature in some instances can be critical” to performance, Friedrich said.Friedrich说：“我们知道，如果我们过热，我们就无法达到我们想要或应该达到的水平。因此，在某些情况下，调节热量和核心温度对表现至关重要。”He said ice baths and cold cloths are often used by athletes but are not necessarily effective.他说，运动员经常使用冰浴和冷毛巾，但不一定有效。A recent study suggested further research was required to prove the efficacy of cold-water immersion practices.最近的一项研究表明，需要进一步研究来证明冷水浸泡实践的效果。Friedrich said the CoolMitt had made a difference.Friedrich说，CoolMitt确实产生了效果。"They (the athletes) notice themselves feeling like at the end of the game they have as much juice or jump in their legs as they did at the beginning," he said.他说：“他们（运动员）注意到自己在比赛结束时感觉腿部的力量和弹跳力与开始时一样多。”