Altitude a factor at World Cup (News Feature)

By John Bagratuni and Christian Kunz Jun 10, 2010, 13:29 GMT

Hamburg/Munich - Altitude is a major factor at the World Cup and the teams are taking no chances in their preparations.

However, they are taking different approaches towards the tournament in South Africa, which starts on Friday and has six venues above 1,100 metres.

A majority of the 19 visiting teams, including the Germans, Brazilians and Dutch, have settled down in the Johannesburg/Pretoria region at around 1,600m. The English and Spanish teams are not far behind at 1,500m.

Only 10 teams, such as Denmark and France, prefer the lower altitude of the coastal regions.

France coach Raymond Domenech and his Danish counterpart Morten Olsen believe that players will recuperate faster, sleep better and train harder at a lower altitude. They will also have more leisure- time options.

'I went high up with my team beforehand. That made more sense to me,' said Olsen.

France and Denmark prepared at high-altitude training camps in the Alps for the tournament and so did many other teams, led by title holders Italy, who were in Sestriere at over 2,000m.

There is no venue as high as the Bolivian capital of La Paz, for instance, where at 3,600m the home team always has a big advantage.

But Olsen spoke for the majority of teams when he said that 'altitude will be a challenge for all European teams because they are not used to it.'

Those who didn't train at altitude arrived early in South Africa to acclimatize, which can take up to a week. Brazil took the least chances, arriving on May 26, almost three weeks ahead of their June 15 opener.

'You do notice the altitude here when you're running around ... but I'm sure we'll get used to it in training,' England striker Jermaine Defoe was quoted as saying early in the week.

'I don't know what effect it will have, but I think it takes you a little bit longer to get your recovery. That's normal, and everyone will experience that. Obviously, the longer you are here, the better you adapt to it.'

High altitude at first leads to fatigue but then helps athletes in endurance sports.

'It (altitude) has a known endurance effect through the raised production of red blood cells (which carry more oxygen),' said German team doctor Tim Meyer.

For German coach Joachim Loew, endurance and fitness will be key factors to do well in a wide-open tournament.

'It (fitness) plays a big role, possibly a bigger one than before. Only those who are top-fit will be able to recharge their batteries in the small breaks between games,' said Loew.

Steve Ingham, head of physiology at the English Institute of Sport, told The Guardian newspaper that keeping this fitness level would require a careful effort from coaches.

'Efforts will either need to be shortened or extended recovery times employed to avoid excessive fatigue,' he said.