from Hacker News

Bolivia moves World Cup qualifier to higher altitude to elevate performance

by wawayanda on 9/4/24, 2:21 AM with 12 comments

• by throwup238 on 9/7/24, 3:24 PM

  > The Bolivians usually play in the capital La Paz at 3,640 meters (11,940 feet) above sea level, but the South American soccer body CONMEBOL has allowed them to move their games to El Alto, the second largest city in the country at an altitude of 4,150 meters (13,615 feet).

  Oh wow, I can't believe they're actually allowing this move. The World Cup teams are going to have a hell of a time training for that altitude. I wonder if a few months of acclimation right before the Cup will be enough for trained athletes or if they'll all have to train for a while at altitude. I wonder how many countries even have a place to train within their borders.

  ~4,000 meters is easily high enough for an unacclimated person to get serious high altitude sickness. I had to get carried down the side of a mountain on a stretcher when I got sick camping at the Palisade Glaciers (just under 4,300m) despite having done several Mt Whitney hikes to acclimate that year. I'd hate to think what it would have been like if I had been physically exerting myself in a game of foodball.

• by dmoy on 9/7/24, 3:21 PM

  Doing somewhat serious sports in high school, I always grumbled about competing vs the national team people in their home turf (6k feet in Colorado Springs). They'd destroy you at sea level as it was, and sucking wind at altitude once you got overworked, it was just another level of unfair.

  I can't imagine going in at over 13k feet. Wtf. That's higher than the day hiking on Rainier here, and you get some serious headaches if you go at usual pace without acclimating.

• by Cyclone_ on 9/7/24, 3:39 PM

  I'd imagine at that level they'll have access to altitude tents to try and adjust. But I do wonder how effective those would be, since you only sleep in them.

• by forinti on 9/7/24, 3:47 PM

  This is silly and dangerous. Tha Bolivian team has never shown enough quality to justify being able to impose this sort of thing.

  I just hope nobody gets hurt.

• by rjsw on 9/7/24, 3:32 PM

  The other teams can just copy cycling and use carbon monoxide training to prepare.

• by TimPC on 9/7/24, 3:44 PM

  Just another example of FIFA's absurd corruption. They know altitude is unfair and they allow increasing it unnecessarily to unreasonable heights.

• by hungie on 9/7/24, 3:21 PM

  Honestly? Good for them. You think every other national team isn't exploiting absolutely every advantage they have access to?

• by Terr_ on 9/4/24, 2:24 AM

  "Don't worry, it's still a level playing-field. Technically."