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Volleyball Players’ Feet Get Burned

Spain’s Liliana Fernandez Steiner pours water on herself to cool down from the heat in their women’s beach volleyball round of 16 match between Canada and Spain during the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games at Shiokaze Park in Tokyo on August 2, 2021.
Spain’s Liliana Fernandez Steiner pours water on herself to cool down from the heat in their women’s beach volleyball round of 16 match between Canada and Spain during the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games at Shiokaze Park in Tokyo on August 2, 2021. Photo: DANIEL LEAL-OLIVA (Getty Images)

To help players stay cool, organizers have installed electric fans and provided competitors with ice baths and coolers filled with bottled water. But all of that only goes so far for volleyball, which is played barefoot. Those measures don’t do much to cool down the sand.

Volleyball players suffered from not only hot air temperatures but also scorching ground temperatures. In fact, during practices last month, some players even said the sand burned their feet, forcing them to leave the court. Officials had to hose down the sand before competitors could return. Nevertheless, NBC announcers covering the games have said the sand got up to 113 degrees Fahrenheit (45 degrees Celsius) during recent matches.

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