Few Canadian cities cold enough to host future Winter Olympics

Climate change could turn out to be the Winter Olympics'biggest spoil sport.

A research study led by geography professor Daniel Scott at theUniversity of Waterloo says the number of places that will be coldenough to host a Winter Olympics is dropping.

In Canada, Calgary and Edmonton are realistically the last onesstanding as cold enough options for future Winter Olympics.

Vancouver already had warm weather woes when it hosted the gamesin 2010, and by 2080 Scott's study says the average dailytemperature there will be 4 C higher.

The study shows every city that has previously hosted the winterOlympics is warmer during the February Olympic period than it waswhen they hosted the games, and by the middle of the century only 11of them will still be cold enough to reliably host the games again.

The good news is Pyeongchang, South Korea, which will host the23rd winter games next month, is on that list which should leaveathletes competing far happier than they were among the slushy iceand bare mountains of the Olympics in Sochi, Russia four years ago.