Photo/Illutration Mist showers are used at a test event for beach volleyball in Tokyo in July. (Asahi Shimbun file photo)

Spending on anti-heat measures for the Tokyo Olympics and Paralympics will more than double to about 10 billion yen ($92 million) to protect athletes, spectators and staff from the expected sweltering weather next summer, officials said.

The Japanese organizing committee and the Tokyo metropolitan government were initially expected to each pay 2 billion yen for conventional anti-heat measures, including tents and fans set up at sites for security checks, according to an Olympic official.

However, safety concerns have risen about Tokyo’s hot and humid summers, prompting Japanese organizers and the Tokyo metropolitan government to compile additional precautions for the Games.

Both sides each agreed to spend an additional 3 billion yen to provide protection against the heat.

The ballooning expenses are expected to be included in the budget draft for the Olympics, which is scheduled to be announced at the end of December.

International sports organizations called for greater anti-heat measures after test events were held in Tokyo this summer to gauge the conditions.

Fears for the athletes’ safety were so intense that the Olympic marathon events were moved to Sapporo.

Even with the additional measures, some related officials remained doubtful on whether anything would be effective in a metropolitan area that has baked under record high temperatures in recent years.

“Will they be enough?” one official asked.

The organizers and the Tokyo government will spend hundreds of millions of yen to prepare more than 1,300 tons of ice and set up baths to cool off the athletes at more than 100 competition and training venues.

They will also use additional freezers and refrigerator trucks at the sites.

Olympic staff members, including 80,000 volunteers, will receive ice cream, tablets for salt supplementation, wet wipes and instant coolants.

Each staff member working outdoors will be given four plastic beverage bottles, while indoor workers will receive two bottles each.

For spectators, the total area of shade tents will increase by about 2.5 times the initial estimate to about 20,000 square meters.

The number of water fountains at outdoor venues will increase so that there will be one faucet per 500 to 3,000 people based on congestion forecasts, the officials said.

In past Olympics, plastic bottles have been banned at venues because of anti-terrorism measures and complaints from beverage companies that were official sponsors of the Games.

However, organizers said that one bottle will be permitted per person at the Tokyo Olympics. They said they are in discussions with sponsors on whether the labels on the bottles should be removed.

Frozen plastic bottles are expected to be prohibited at Tokyo Olympic venues for security reasons. But officials may allow people to bring in pieces of ice in water bottles as well as frozen but soft refrigerant packs.

The Tokyo government’s anti-heat measures for the marathon races are not included in the extra precautions.

(The article was written by Daisuke Maeda and Yusuke Saito.)