High Tech Olympics
evawhite on August 29th, 2008
Now with the Closing Ceremony of the Olympics over and done with, we can take a long lingering look back at a spectacular 29th summer Olympic Games, as spectacular at the end as it was at the beginning. China spent $40 billion building dazzling venues, filled them with thousands of smiling volunteers, transported people to them with a flawless bus network and earned Kudos from the athletes as well; “Oh my goodness, This is my third Olympic team, and the organization, the volunteers, the venues, everything has been the best. Every’t’ was crossed; every ‘i’ was dotted. … I would rate these highest of the Olympics I’ve been to.” said an athlete.
So the organizers did a cracking good job in Beijing, and what of the participants? It goes without saying that these were the most high tech Olympics ever and that the next ones will be even more so. Technology played a big part in making the athletes stronger, faster, jump higher, throw further, shoot more accurately, etc.
Phelps’ phenomenal showing at this Olympics brought into focus the advancements in swimming gear. The LZR Racer suit from Speedo is an innovation that has helped topple some records in these games. These suits feature a very tight fit, a slippery synthetic fabric and ultrasonically welded seams to streamline the body. There is also a structural feature sewn into the suit that helps to keep the legs aligned with the upper body.
One thing that an athlete has to guard against is overheating; consequently many manufacturers came up with ‘cooling suits’ such as Nike’s ice vest: it is water filled and turns into ice when you put it in the freezer. When the athlete dons it, it pre-cools him or her before the race, so as to delay onset of body overheating.
Shoes are another item subject to constant improvement to make them lighter, faster, better, with Adidas introducing the concept of asymmetric shoes (different shoes for the right and left foot). Then there are Nike’s shoes involving technologies called flywire and lunar foam! Gymnastic shoes now weigh just about 10 grams each!
Then of course there are the carbon fiber bikes, with fewer spokes for less resistance and lighter weight, with the wheels now composed only of a one piece disc as against the spokes in days of yore. With records being made and broken by a hundredth of a second margin, high tech can give you just that extra edge to be a winner!
September 3rd, 2008 at 2:52
I almost miss the Olympics now that they are over. Sadly, I missed all the Indoor track racing. Perhaps a little more than half an hour from us is the Lehigh Valley Velodrome…back in the day I actually raced on it a bit, but I was never in any kind of shape that these guys are.
September 13th, 2008 at 2:52
I never miss the olympics 100m finals and swimming. Usain Bolt and Phelps were really fast.