Maarten van der Weijden is the first Olympic swimming champion to speak openly about the usefulness of a height tent. Marquees fulfil a need. Top athletes have been familiar with the system since 2001, and in recent years this principle has become increasingly familiar to the general public.
Various Belgians and Dutch have also experimented with it for a short or longer period in the past ten years. Maarten van der Weijden (see Figure 1) is the first Olympic swimming champion to speak openly about the usefulness of artificial height.
In his bedroom there is a tent that can simulate the air composition at different heights; a so-called height tent. When the zippers of the transparent tent cloth are closed, the body of Maarten imagines itself at an altitude of 2500 meters. The air composition can be adjusted with a computer whereby a height of 2000 - 5000 meters (see figure 2) can be simulated.
Palmares Maarten Van de Weijden
Titles
- Olympic champion 10 km open water - 2008
- World champion 25 km open water - 2008
- Dutch champion 400 m free - 2000
- Dutch champion 800 m free - 2003, 2004
- Dutch champion 1500 m free - 1998, 1999, 2000, 2003
- Dutch champion short track 400 m free - 1999, 2005
- Dutch champion short track 1500 m free - 1998
- Dutch champion open water 5 km - 2000
- Dutch champion open water marathon - 2004
Dutch records
- 5000 m - 54.12.23 (Eindhoven, January 5, 2007)
- 1500 m - 14.59.15 (Trieste, December 10, 2005)
The interest of (top) athletes in height tents is not surprising to sports physiologists. Use of height tents offers many advantages. The athletes do not have to trade their own environment for mountains. It is cheaper than always going to a training camp. They can set the exact 'height' themselves. This is useful because every person responds differently to a low oxygen concentration. And they can 'rest high and train low', as it is called in sports jargon.
According to that method, which was also successfully followed by Maarten van der Weijden, athletes rest at height. On the other hand, they train in the environment they are used to at sea level.
Figure 3 shows the composition of the air, as you can set it in a height tent, in a diagram. Left at sea level, right high in the mountains.
