Killer Sauna
Posted on 9 August 2010 by LynThomas in sports
In spite of the fact the human body is not designed to cope with temperatures above boiling point, contestants in the World Sauna Championship still tried to beat the odds.
A Russian finalist, Vladimir Ladyzhensky, died after entering the World Sauna Championships. The event was suspended, according to the organizers.
Both of the events finalists — Russia’s Ladyzhensky and Finland’s Timo Kaukonen — were rushed to the hospital after collapsing during the competition, in which contestants are made to endure temperatures of 230 degrees Fahrenheit (110 degrees Celsius) for as long as they can.
Both men had endured seven minutes in the sauna before they were pulled out. Both men suffered from terrible burns and trauma. Ladyzhensky died en route to the hospital, while Kaukonen’s condition was critical, but stable. Kaukonen had won the competition 5 times.
Kaukonen told the Norwegian newspaper, the Verden Gang, just a few minutes before the finals, that the saunas used for the 2010 championship, were a lot more extreme than the saunas used in previous competitions.
The Sauna Competition, which had over 130 participants, is an annual endurance event, which has been held in Heinola, Finland, since 1999. However, there has never been any major prizes for being the winner of the World Championship Sauna event.
While police have launched an investigation, the organizer of the event, Ossi Arvela, said “All the rules were followed and there was enough first aid personnel. All the competitors needed to sign in to the competition with a doctor’s certificate, prior to entering the competition.”
The Championships evolved from an unofficial sauna-sitting competition, that resulted in a ban from a swimming hall in Heinola. The competition grew to involve 20 countries from across the world.
The championships began with preliminary rounds and ended in the finals, where the best six men and women would see who could sit in the sauna the longest.
The starting temperature in the men’s competition was 110 degrees centigrade. Half a liter of water was poured on the stove every 30 seconds. The winner was the last person to stay in the sauna and walk out without outside help.
The host country usually dominated the event, as only one foreign competitor ever made it into the finals in the men’s competition. The first non-Finnish winner in the women’s competition was Natallia Tryfanava from Belarus, in 2003.
In 2004 the World Sauna Championships were televised, with an estimated 40 million audience in Japan alone.
Sauna bathing at extreme conditions is a severe health risk and all competitors sign a form agreeing to not take legal action against the organizers. Following the death and near-death of the two finalists, the organizers announced they did not expect any further championships to be held.
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