There is a rising concern that Olympic venue construction may affect the surrounding environment. The construction of Winter Olympic venues and competition zones is more likely to degrade the surrounding natural environment than the summer counterpart, considering the prominent land use change and extensive vegetation disturbance during the construction of ski trails in mountainous areas. Scientific assessment of the impact of this Winter Olympic Games construction on the surrounding ecological environment can be of significance for the construction of a Green Olympics. At this stage, the main framework of venue and competition construction in Zhangjiakou for the Beijing Winter Olympic Games is essentially completed, so we assessed the vegetation coverage change conditions based on the Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) and the Enhanced Vegetation Index (EVI) from 2000 to 2020. Our results show that the construction of venues, roads, and other facilities for the 2022 Olympic Games led to a remarkable change in land use, but the impacts on vegetation coverage were negligible in the surrounding area. Due to the intensive reforestation activities since the year that Beijing won the race to host the Winter Olympics, vegetation coverage continued to increase in the Zhangjiakou area, even in the core area of Winter Olympic Games construction zones. This study provides support to the belief in hosting a Green Olympics.
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http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ijerph182312777 | DOI Listing |
PLoS One
January 2025
School of Exercise and Health, Shenyang Sport University, Shenyang, China.
Balance is crucial for various athletic tasks, and accurately assessing balance ability among elite athletes using simple and accessible measurement methods is a significant challenge in sports science. A common approach to balance assessment involves recording center of pressure (CoP) displacements using force platforms, with various indicators proposed to distinguish subtle balance differences. However, these indicators have not reached a consensus, and it remains unclear whether these analyses alone can fully explain the complex interactions of postural control.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBiology (Basel)
January 2025
Theoretical Ecology and Engineering Ecology Research Group, School of Life Sciences, Shandong University, Qingdao 266237, China.
Minor and trace elements in soil play a crucial role in regulating ecological processes that sustain the functionality of forest ecosystems. In this study, we have selected three conifer forests (, , ), one broadleaf forest () and one mixed forest of and in the Winter Olympic core area and determined the pattern of 12 typical elements (B, Fe, V, Cr, Ni, Co, Mn, As, Cu, Zn, Sn and Se) in soils and their main drivers in the three different soil layers (A, B and C horizon) in each soil profile. Our results showed that the concentrations of B, Fe, Cr, Cu, Ni and Sn were mainly enriched in the broadleaf forest and mixed broadleaf-conifer forest zones, and the average concentrations of Co, Mn, V, Zn, As and Se were mainly enriched in coniferous forest zones in contrast.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFPLoS One
January 2025
School of Foreign Languages, Central South University, Changsha, Hunan, China.
The dissemination of sustainable development concepts in large international events like the Olympics has garnered great attention. As a major international sports event, the Beijing Winter Olympics served as an important platform for showcasing China's sustainable development philosophy through its official news coverage. In this context, metaphor, as a powerful cognitive tool, plays a crucial role in shaping public perception and facilitating the dissemination of values by mapping concrete source domains onto abstract target domains.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFOrthop J Sports Med
January 2025
Department of Sports Medicine, US Olympic & Paralympic Committee, Colorado Springs, Colorado, USA.
Background: Previous research has reported higher rates of both injury and illness among Paralympic athletes compared with Olympic athletes during the Winter Olympic and Paralympic Games, but no studies have directly compared injury and illness incidence between Olympic and Paralympic athletes competing in a Summer Games.
Purpose: To compare injury and illness rates between Olympic and Paralympic Team USA athletes competing in the Tokyo 2020 Olympic and Paralympic Games.
Study Design: Descriptive epidemiology study.
Eur J Appl Physiol
January 2025
Department of Exercise Physiology and Sports Therapy, Institute of Sports Science, Justus Liebig University Giessen, Kugelberg 62, 35394, Giessen, Germany.
Purpose: This study investigated elite German athletes to (1) assess their serum 25(OH)D levels and the prevalence of insufficiency, (2) identify key factors influencing serum 25(OH)D levels, and (3) analyze the association between serum 25(OH)D levels and handgrip strength.
Methods: In this cross-sectional study, a total of 474 athletes (231 female), aged 13-39 years (mean 19.3 years), from ten Olympic disciplines were included.
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