London 2012 Olympics: How athletes use technology to win medals | Sport. Rebecca Romero cycles for Britain in the 2008 Beijing Olympics. Photograph Tim De Waele/TDW Ever since the first ancient Greek chipped away at a lump of stone to give it the smooth, aerodynamic properties of a discus, sportsmen and engineers have been looking at ways to enhance performance – while some of those denied medals have been crying foul. A new report from the Institute of Mechanical Engineers suggests that technological innovation is now an integral part of sport at the highest level, and that Olympic competition is not just about who is fastest – but whose kit is smartest. Many of Britain's Olympic athletes will have had clothes and helmets individually designed for them following a full body scan to establish exactly what contour will give them the most aerodynamic shape. Mountain bikes and sailing harnesses will have nano-coatings that repel liquid, preventing drag from mud or water.
Boxers have trained with overhead cameras that track and record every weave and punch. How Olympic Timing Works" Cycling Because cycling events face timing challenges similar to that of marathons, the technology is much the same. RFID tags, attached to each bicycle frame, emit an identification code to antennas placed at the starting line, finish line and along the road. These antennas register each rider's time and send it to the timing console for comparison. High-speed photo-finish cameras are set up at the finish line, including above the track, to provide a time-sequenced visual record of the winners, including a vertical cursor delineating the front edge of each rider's tire, to be used in case of a close finish. Aquatics Similar to the short-distance track events, each swimmer's starting block has an attached speaker to announce the activation of the clock by the timing official, or starter. Another technology that debuted during the 2012 London Olympics was the Open Water Gate for the swimming marathon.
OMEGA London 2012 'Start Me Up' TV Commercial (Long version) Olympic Timekeeping History. No timekeeper in the world has a longer or closer relationship with the Olympic Movement than OMEGA. The brand works regularly with the governing federation of each sport to ensure the equipment used to measure the athletes’ performances are adapted to meet the needs of the competition. This means new and improved timekeeping and data handling technology is introduced each year. Among OMEGA’s early innovations in the field was the world's first independent, portable and water-resistant photoelectric cell, which made its Olympic debut at the London 1948 Games.
This was followed by the Racend OMEGA Timer, a device that combined a Race Finish Recording photofinish camera with a timer. At the Helsinki 1952 Olympic Games, OMEGA became the first company to use electronic timing in sport with the OMEGA Time Recorder (OTR). In 1961, OMEGA invented the Omegascope, which allowed the time of each competitor to be displayed on a TV screen. See our Full Olympic Timeline. History. W-timing.jpg (JPEG Image, 982 × 1068 pixels)
Inside the Technology Powering the Olympic Games. Ancient Olympics. The Isthmian games were held near Corinth, in a rural sanctuary on the Isthmos, that is the small neck of land that connects the Peloponnesian peninsula with Central Greece. They were organized by the city Corinth, until 146 BC, when Corinth was completely destroyed by the Romans. For some time the games moved to the city Sicyon. In 40 BC Corinth got hold of the organization again and about AD 40 the games moved back to the Isthmos. The Isthmian games were part of the periodos. They were held in the spring of the first and the third year of every olympiad. The program consisted of three parts. The prize was originally a crown of pine branches. In the fifth century BC, this was replaced by a crown of dried celery. The Isthmian games were used by many (e.g. the Roman Flamininus ) as a forum for political propaganda. Ancient Olympics. The Olympics – ancient and modern.
The Olympic Games of AD165 ended in a horribly spectacular fashion. Just a couple of miles from the main stadium, watched by a large crowd, an old man called Peregrinus Proteus – an ex-Christian convert, turned loud-mouthed pagan philosopher and religious guru – jumped on to a blazing pyre to his death. He had been threatening to do this ever since the previous Olympics, four years earlier. The self-immolation was modelled on the mythical death of Heracles (one of the legendary founders of the Games) and was meant as a gesture of protest at the corrupt wealth of the human world, as well as a lesson to the guru's followers in how to endure suffering.
Despite his brave words, as the days of the Olympic festival went by, Peregrinus kept putting off the final moment. It was not until the Games had officially finished, that he actually built the pyre and took the plunge. What is more, the whole contest was performed in honour of the gods. But this is where the Romans come in. Ancient Olympics Guide: Stadia and Starting Gates. Greece's Nemean Games: the alternative Olympics – video | Travel.
Greece, Ancient Greek Technology. P. Valavanis Hysplex, The Starting Mechanism in Ancient Stadia. Use of IT in 100m sprint - Technology in the 2012 olympic games. In these videos there is a lot of technology being used. Firstly, the starting blocks are linked to the electric gun and the laptop so that they know when there is a false start and the timings of the sprinter. The laptop will show the reaction times of each athlete this will tell the starter if there has been a false start. A second electric gun is then fired to signal the false start. Each starting block has a microphone attached so that each athlete will hear the gun at thge same time. The starting block is electronic and as soon as your foot leaves the block the track referee can tell the false starter and who has done it. There is a camera which runs along the side of the track and it videos the racers rom a side angle for the televsions.
Usain Bolt false starting in 100m.