- Temperatures at the Beijing
Winter Olympics have been near zero degrees Fahrenheit.
- During one biathlon event, athletes visibly struggled to reload their guns due to the cold.
The cold at the Beijing Winter Olympics is so severe that it is impacting the performance of some athletes competing in the biathlon.
In Yanqing and Zhangjiakou, the areas northwest of Beijing where ski, snowboard, and biathlon events are being held, $4
Winds have also been as strong as 20 miles-per-hour, which has made it feel much colder.
Biathletes, who compete in a discipline that combines cross-country skiing and shooting, are especially vulnerable to the cold temperatures and high winds.
"[They are] generally racing in Lycra with long underwear underneath," $4 "The wind blows right through that."
High winds can affect the trajectory of the bullet, while the mobility of athletes' trigger fingers can also be a problem.
During coverage of Saturday's mixed relay biathlon, for instance, Insider witnessed several athletes visibly struggling to reload their guns during shooting portions of the event in the frigid temperatures.
"Athletes need to be able to feel the trigger," Cobb said. "With the trigger finger at cold temperatures, especially with the wind, that can become a real issue."
Team USA's Deedra Irwin and Hanna Sola of Team Belarus are among the biathletes who have experienced the brutal weather in Beijing first hand.
"A lot of our races in central Europe have been quite warm," Irwin said, $4
"We haven't had that many races below 15 degrees in the past two or three years. I see that as a trend of the climate changing and winters getting warmer. But we're a little out of practice for this, blustery, cold, frigid conditions."
Sola said: "We are putting on as many layers as we can, but still everything is freezing. You can see everyone waving their hands, jumping on the spot. It is cold for everyone."
Another US biathlete, $4: "I think I was a little bit skeptical when everybody said it's going to be super cold."
"I went to college in Minnesota and currently live in Fargo, North Dakota, and I have to say, it's been very cold."
While susceptible to the cold, however, biathletes aren't the only ones who have been impacted by brutally low temperatures.
Towards the end of the women's 7.5km+7.5km skiathlon on Saturday, Swedish athlete Frida Karlsson was seen shaking and apparently close to collapse.
During the race, temperatures in the mountains of Zhangjiakou were about 8 degrees Fahrenheit; however, with the wind, $4 Swedish team boss Anders Bystroem said.
In the wake of the event Bystroem said that he was considering asking the International Ski Federation, or FIS, to start races earlier in the day to try to protect athletes.
"We have the cold limits, but I do not know if they also measure the wind effect," $4
Under FIS rules, competitions are stopped from taking place when temperatures are below minus 4 degrees Fahrenheit.
"If FIS says it's minus-17 degrees [1 F] and it's windy, and it's minus-35 degrees [minus 31 F] with the windchill, what do you do then?" he added.
"Yesterday the competition started at 4 p.m., and Frida Karlsson was completely destroyed by the cold."
American freestyle skier Brad Wilson, who crashed out of the games on Saturday after finishing 15th place in the second qualifying round for the men's moguls event, $4 that he caught a touch of frostbite during his brief time in Beijing.
"The very last part of the chairlift is the coldest part," he said. "The wind just kind of hits your face and it got my nose a little bit."
While temperatures have been icy cold for most of the games so far, things appear to be warming up, with temperatures rising above 0 degrees Celsius (32 degrees Fahrenheit) in the coming days, $4