A lot is being made of the impact of altitude at this year’s World Cup in South Africa. The thinner air means the new Adidas ball will move differently but, more importantly, there are implications for health and performance. FIFA’s chief medical officer, Jiri Dvorak, recently downplayed the effects that altitude would have, yet he recommended that teams should make a 3 – 4 day allowance for acclimatisation. Bit of a contradiction, no?
Johannesburg, at approximately 1750 m above sea level is the highest venue of the World Cup, and will play host to 15 matches including the final. Five other venues sit above 1000 m. Sure; these aren’t the usual altitudes with which we associate problems; FIFA originally banned football from being played at anything above 2500 m affecting Bolivia (La Paz, 3700 m), Ecuador (Quito, 2800 m) and Colombia (Bogotá, 2600 m). Following complaints, the ban was changed to venues higher than 3000 m. What the current situation is I don’t think even FIFA president Sepp Blatter knows. However, what this farce did provide was evidence that FIFA did at least appreciate the difficulties that teams going to altitude can encounter without sufficient acclimatisation.
Does this then mean that teams shouldn’t prepare for the worst simply because it’s not an altitude that FIFA recognise as being highly problematic? The ability of the body to uptake oxygen is one of the key factors behind exercise performance. At sea level, oxygen levels are approximately 21% and this relative percentage remains constant. As altitude increases the air gets thinner, which means that there are fewer particles occupying the same amount of space. This results in a lower level of oxygen availability than at sea level; at 1750m, the equivalent oxygen availability is approximately 17.2%.
Regardless of your perception of this as perhaps a moderate increase in altitude, the lower oxygen availability will put an additional strain on your body’s systems. Once exercise starts, this also places an extra strain on the body’s physiological systems. It might not be quite as simple as 1 + 1 = 2, but you get the idea. These two factors are both increasing the pressure on your body to maintain homeostasis, and at a certain point something has got to give. The body is more likely to prioritise your health over performance.
So, should teams be taking precautions regarding the increased altitude of certain venues at the World Cup in South Africa? The season is over and the altitudes in South Africa are not excessive; finding time to acclimatise to the conditions that will be experienced during the 2010 World Cup should be straight forward. England are certainly taking it seriously with their recent training camp in Irdning, Austria, though it is located at a paltry 645 m above sea level. Will this see them through a penalty shoot out? Probably not, but it may just be the difference between scoring a last minute winner and the tie going to penalties.
Bryan Saunders, Nottingham Trent University
To speak to Bryan, call the University Press Office directly on 0115 848 8785 or email worldcup@ntu.ac.uk
[To view Nottingham Trent University’s team of World Cup experts go to www.ntu.ac.uk/worldcup]
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