Ice, ice, baby! British athletes to play it cool with special vests that will combat heat in Beijing

Heat and humidity were also a major factor in Athens in 2004 as Paula Radcliffe discovered to her cost when she failed to finish the marathon after becoming dehydrated.

If Paul Radcliffe overcomes injury and competes at the Olympics, she will benefit from Team GB's cooling technology

Now, after consulting military experts in desert and jungle warfare as well as leading sports scientists, the BOA and UK Sport have put together a strategy tailored to each individual competitor to help them stay cool in Beijing.  

For some athletes, that will mean "pre-cooling" before events and wearing ice vests just beforehand. For others, the measures are being kept secret to avoid giving an advantage to their rivals.  

UK Sport's research and innovation consultant Dr Scott Drawer said: "We have consulted experts from the aerospace industry and the military, and have learned a lot from what they have done for troops in various extreme environments.  

"Many sports already have their own strategy for dealing with environmental affects, and what we try to do is help understand and look at strategies around cooling and hydration.  

"Depending on the event, pre-cooling is one method, using ice vests and cold water but other measures we are not publicising because we don't want to lose our competitive advantage.  

"With Beijing's prevailing conditions of high temperatures coupled with high humidity, the first priorities must be cooling and hydration and that is where we have concentrated our energies."  

Drawer and the BOA's head of sports science and research Dr Marco Cardinale have also been working on minimising the effects of travel and jet lag. The training camp location in Macau was chosen to limit jet lag and enable acclimatisation.  

Cardinale added: "In the last couple of years we have been able to use test events in China as opportunities to experience the conditions first hand and check on the effectiveness of our strategies.  

"We are confident that all athletes in a British vest will have had the best possible support and preparation, with nothing left to chance."