Elite athletes such as Lance Armstrong or Paula Radcliffe
use altitude training to benefit their performance. But just
why is it such an advantage? Going to some distant
F
country to train day in day out doesn't
A
CT FILE:
seem like much of a holiday. Sport IQ looks
1. Altitude training has been around
since the ancient Incas in the 1
at what altitude training actually is and
Centur
2th how it can benefit these elite athletes?
y .
2. About 30% of the world's population
liv
e at altitudes abov Humans need Oxygen
10% (70 million people) abov
e 1
500m and about
Humans and athletes need Oxygen in order to fuel their
of 2500m abov e altitudes
e sea lev
bodies. Oxygen is one of the many gases that make up AIR, or
the height of man
el. That’s about
y European ski
what we call the ATMOSPHERE. The process of 'using'
resor
ts!
oxygen is called RESPIRATIION. Normally, at sea level, the
air in the atmosphere contains around 21% (20.94%) oxygen.
However, as altitude increases, such as if we start to climb up
a mountain, the air pressure gets lower, so every breath you
take contains fewer oxygen molecules. For this reason some
people say that the air is 'thinner' at altitude as the molecules
are more spread out.
F
A
CT FILE:
ere
ym
pic Games w
DRAW A GRAPH:
The 1
968 Summer Ol
h is at a height
pers in
Using the 2 graph axis and labels draw the graphs for;
held in Mexico City whic
eral world
1. The amount of oxygen (O2) in the air as altitude increases
of 2300m. Sprinters & Jum
2. The 'amount' or concentration of O2 molecules as
trac
k and f
ield ev
ents set sev
altitude increases
records due to the "thin air" of MexicoCity
.
en
ya and
1 2
In Mexico, athletes from Ke at altitude), won
Ethiopia (that liv ed
more medals in the middle and long
distance races, than athletes that liv
at lo
w altitudes.
national
ifa
banned inter
In 2007 F yed abov
e 2500m
Conc of O2 mol
ns ov
er
matc
hes being pla
abov
e sea lev
el af
ter concer
ames in La
% of O2 in air% of O2 in air
pla
yers’ health. Bolivia’s ged at 3,600m
Altitude Altitude
Paz w
ere of
ten pla
y
JANUARY 2009 : SPORT IQ 14-16 11