Mike Rowbottom
mikepoloneckJudy Murray, whose son is currently fulfilling all the tennis dreams he - and she - ever had, is not a woman given to hyperbole. So when she describes the heat currently being endured by players at the Australian Open in Melbourne as "brutal" it is worth noting.

Andy Murray was diplomatic (as he has learned to be ever since he expressed the true feelings of every Scot with regard to the England football team and was hammered for it) about the conditions after winning his first round match in temperatures of more than 40 degrees Celcius. But even his diplomatic response was couched in terms of anxiety: "It doesn't look good for the sport when people are collapsing...you don't want to see anything bad happen to anyone."

andymurrayauspracticeAndy Murray works on his hydration during practice for this year's Australian Open, which has coincided with a worrying heatwave ©Getty Images

The reference to collapsing had to do with Canada's Frank Dancevic, who required medical attention after fainting during the second set of his first round tie and later described it as "inhumane" to expect players to perform in such conditions, adding: "Until somebody dies, they just keep going on with it and putting matches on in this heat."

Dancevic was not the only player who had words of criticism for the scheduling. Victoria Azarenka described her match as being like "dancing in a frying pan." John Isner of the United States – who gave ample evidence of his powers of endurance at the 2010 Wimbledon Championships when he took 11 hours and five minutes to defeat France's Nicolas Mahut 6-4, 3-6, 6-7, 7-6, 70-68 in what was the longest professional tennis match in history - commented: "It was like an oven - when I open the oven door and the potatoes are done." Serbia's Jelena Jankovic burnt her backside and hamstrings when sitting on an uncovered seat.

frankdancevicfirstroundbenoitpairefrFrank Dancevic of Canada feels the heat during his Australian Open first round defeat to Benoit Paire of France, during which he fainted ©Getty Images

The second round brought no respite for the players - Croatia's Ivan Dodig said after retiring from his match after two hours and 22 minutes play that he feared he "could maybe even die", adding: "Thirty minutes after the match I could not walk."

Temperatures are forecast to remain between 42 and 43 degrees Celcius today and tomorrow. In the meantime, the tournament organisers are referring anyone interested to their yardstick for deciding whether or not it is too hot to play – yes, it's our old favourite the Wet Bulb Globe Temperature composite, which sounds like something for gardeners but is in fact a multiple gauge of temperature, humidity and wind. The "relatively low level of humidity" was the reason no red light occurred. Cue red faces.

ivandodigcroatiaCroatia's Ivan Dodig also feels the heat during a second round match in Melbourne from which he retired ©AFP/ Getty Images

All this follows the furore set in motion last week by an apparent confirmation that the 2022 FIFA World Cup finals, awarded controversially to Qatar, would be switched to autumn or winter months in order to safeguard players and spectators from the ferocious summer heat.

The comments of FIFA's general secretary Jerome Valcke to Radio France have swiftly been reclassified by a FIFA jobsworth as being no more than Valcke's "view". But given his lofty position, that view is presumably a good one - almost as good as that of the FIFA President, Sepp Blatter.

The official line is that there is no official line, and nor will there be until after this year's finals in Brazil. After that the international body for football merely has to find a way of distorting the calendar for 2022 so that the finals do not impinge on any domestic leagues, or the African Cup of Nations, scheduled for January 2023. Which could prove tricky.

The organisers in Qatar are said to have indicated their willingness to switch if necessary - but such a move will precipitate another big problem, with Australia, one of the failed bidders for the 2022 finals, having vowed to press for compensation should the finals be played in winter. (Just a thought for you Mr Blatter - why not follow the Olympic model and have a summer World Cup followed by a winter World Cup?)

jeromevalckeJerome Valcke, FIFA's General Secretary, indicated in a radio interview that the 2022 World Cup finals in Qatar would be switched from the summer to winter months
©Bongarts/Getty Images

A horribly complex political mess. But - as some implied about the original FIFA decision - there can only be one result. Qatar in the summer is too hot for almost anything. That is why so many Qataris choose to go elsewhere at the height of the heat. Having visited Doha for the last three years, I can vouch for the stifling nature of the conditions, even in mid-May. By the evening it becomes OK - but at midday it is insufferable, even in the shade.

Were the Australian Open to decide enough was enough as far as continuing with the action during the latest heatwave, or indeed were FIFA to decide that players and fans could not be subjected to midsummer Qatar heat, it would not be the first time sporting schedules had been altered over such concerns.

Anxiety about temperatures has been one of the main reasons why, thus far, Qatar has not been able to earn the right to host an Olympics. When the Games arrived in Paris in 1924, a heatwave which coincided with the third running of the Olympic cross country event wrought havoc on all save the superhuman who finished a minute and a half clear of the rest of the field, Paavo Nurmi, who was en route to winning five gold medals at the Games.

A temperature of 45 degrees Celcius made it the hottest day of the Parisian summer, and the runners had to negotiate just over 10,000 metres of dusty, shadeless tracks along the banks of the Seine, amidst thick weeds and noxious fumes from a nearby energy plant. Nice.

Of the 38 starters, only 15 finished, and eight runners were carried away on stretchers. With the team event being determined by the first three finishers for each country, Finland looked good for gold once Nurmi had been followed home by compatriot and intense rival Ville Ritola. But the other four Finns in the team were not exactly flying, and only one of them made it over the line to seal the victory - Heikki Liimateinen, who staggered home in 12th place.

paavonurmiPaavo Nurmi, who left the 1924 Paris Olympics with five gold medals, seemed the only runner unaffacted by the 45 degrees Celcius temperature in which the last of the Olympic cross-country races was run ©AFP/Getty Images

The podium proved sufficient space for the team competition running in conjunction with the individual race - only three teams managed to field three finishers. Ernie Harper, a gallant fourth, was the only British runner from a team of five to complete the course.

Such was the dismay at this distressing spectacle that the event was dropped, and remains dropped, from the Olympic programme.

Official Olympic records note only two athletes who have lost their lives as a result of high temperatures, although in both cases there were additional factors. At the 1912 Games in Stockholm, 21-year-old Portuguese marathon runner Francisco Lazaro collapsed at the 29 kilometres mark with heatstroke and reported heart problems, dying the next day.

Forty eight years on, at the Rome Olympics, Danish cyclist Knud Enemark Jensen collapsed during the 100km team time trial - which took place in temperatures around 34 degrees Celcius - fracturing his skull. The official cause of death was given as heatstroke, although the autopsy indicated the presence in the Dane's system of amphetamines and a substance called Roniacol, which may have had the effect of decreasing his blood pressure. In the wake of this sad case, the International Olympic Committee formed its Medical Commission and began systematised doping controls at the Games.

knud jensen crashThe fatal fall sustained by Danish cyclist Knud Jensen in the heat of Rome at the 1960 Olympics ©Hulton Archive/Getty Images

One French athlete in that last Olympic cross-country in 1924 lost his bearings on the final lap in the stadium and began to run round in ever decreasing circles before spinning off into the stands at top speed and knocking himself unconscious.

Murray's comment at Melbourne - "You don't want to see anything bad happen to anyone..." comes to mind again. The organisers of the Australian Open, and the men at the top in FIFA, will never and should never be forgiven if commercial and political expediency causes serious harm to those taking part or watching their events.

Mike Rowbottom, one of Britain's most talented sportswriters, covered the London 2012 Olympics and Paralympics as chief feature writer for insidethegames, having covered the previous five summer Games, and four winter Games, for The Independent. He has worked for the Daily Mail, The Times, The Observer, The Sunday Correspondent and The Guardian. His latest book Foul Play – the Dark Arts of Cheating in Sport (Bloomsbury £12.99) is available at the insidethegames.biz shop.