1 Dartfish in Beijing 2008 (for internal use only)

Transcription

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Dartfish in Beijing 2008 (for internal use only)
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Beijing's Sweet Video Setup
By Brian Little
August 19, 2008 | 7:30:00 AMCategories: Sports
Around our place, watching the
Olympics is the order of the day. Our geeklet is just the right age to be fascinated by the entire spectacle,
particularly swimming and gymnastics. Pretty much everything is in high-definition, and as the owner of a hidef set myself, I can see why. The show is awesome to begin with, and all the more so when it looks like you
could reach out and touch it. I'll be surprised if the Games don't drive at least a few new sales of HD sets.
Beyond the simple all-over HD, though, there's a lot of neat, geeky stuff going on. High on the cool scale is the
use of the Dartfish StroMotion tool. StroMotion essentially takes a rapid-fire sequence of events, breaks out a
series of stills and composites them into a single fantastic image. It really lets you see exactly what the judges
and the (annoying) color commentators are talking about when they mention that slight misalignment that cost
athlete X a critical .1. Check out a good example from the synchronized diving competition at about the 2:07
mark in this video from NBC, or this StroMotion recap of the men's 10m synchro competition. That second one
gets particularly cool around the 1:17 mark, where they overlay the performance of one pair onto the dive of a
second pair. The video doesn't specify, but I believe this may be SimulCam (also from Dartfish).
Want more? How about the DiveCam, a gravity-dropped HD cam that follows a diver from board to
splashdown, nonstop? Or the MobyCam, which lets you watch swimmers from underneath as it moves along
the pool floor following the black lane stripe. There's the wire-mounted FlyCam, soon to be on display during
the kayaking and canoeing competitions. All three (as well as the archery butts' BullseyeCam) were designed by
Garrett Brown, camera geek extraordinaire and creator of the famous Steadicam.
NBC has a total of 1100 cameras all over the three dozen venues, giving you a view of the games that ranges
from in-your-face to wide angle to downright thrilling. Joseph Devlin has compiled a starter list of much of the
pro-grade gear in use. All very geeky but not, frankly, as cool as the DiveCam.
UPDATE: Jesus Diaz, blogging at Gizmodo, takes on the still photography scene, with a lowball estimate of $22
million in still gear running around the Games.
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OLYMPIC TRACK AND FIELD
Rivalry with Merritt pushes reigning 400 champ Wariner
By FRAN BLINEBURY Copyright 2008 Chronicle Olympic Bureau
Aug. 16, 2008, 12:59AM
JEWEL SAMAD AFP/Getty Images
Jeremy Wariner Wariner, 24, has been the No. 1-ranked 400-meter runner in the world since 2004 when he won the gold
medal at the Athens Olympics.
BEIJING — First he uses his right hand to adjust the ubiquitous sunglasses into position on his face. Then he reaches to
tuck the dangling gold chain into the front of his singlet before rising up in the starting blocks to wait for the sound of the
gun.
With Jeremy Wariner, it‘s all about being meticulous. Which is the way it has to be when your goal is breaking a world
record and the margin is slimmer than a super model hiding behind a razor‘s edge.
Wariner, 24, has been the No. 1-ranked 400-meter runner in the world since 2004 when he won the gold medal at the
Athens Olympics. But now, as the opening round of competition at the Beijing Games draws near on Monday, LaShawn
Merritt has emerged as a significant threat to that dominance. Merritt ended Wariner‘s nine-race unbeaten streak in Berlin
in May. And he raised eyebrows throughout the track and field world when he knocked off Wariner again at the U.S. trials
in June.
―For me, it‘s great to have a rivalry,‖ Wariner said. ―It makes me train harder. When I get to the track, no matter if I‘m
feeling good or feeling tired, I have to work as hard as I can, because I know that LaShawn is doing the same thing.
―The last couple of races were great. I ran two 43 (second) races and in Stockholm ran 44. Training has been going well,
probably the best of the season. I feel as hard as I‘ve worked, I‘ve got a chance to get the world record.‖
That‘s where the details come in. So in addition to competing and building his endurance and speed with work on the
track, Wariner prepared for the Olympics at the Michael Johnson Performance Center in McKinney, just north of Dallas,
breaking down the smallest aspects of his race into minuscule parts that can be captured in thousandths-of-a-second
freeze frames on a high-definition camera.
He worked on his starts — the first eight to 10 strides — repeatedly, exhaustively, painstakingly over and over with an
explosive burst and long, powerful strides, and then walked to a spot in the middle of the room to consult with Johnson
and MJPC director Lance Walker to analyze fractions of every step.
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His spine was at too much of a steep angle here. A barely noticeable scuff mark on the floor means a misstep there. A
shin bone that was just a little off parallel to the floor brought nodding heads and pointing at the screen of the Dartfish
video monitor. They might as well be molecular biologists, their attention to detail.
―Every little thing counts,‖ said Wariner.
It seems such a simple race — one lap — where the only requirement is the raw ability to hit top speed as fast as possible
and then have the sheer guts to hang on when your lungs are screaming to explode and your muscles are begging to shut
down through the homestretch.
Wariner already has run a personal best of 43.45 but has his sights set on Johnson‘s world record of 43.18 set at Seville
in 1999. What seems like the batting of a hummingbird‘s wings to a layman is a huge gulf that needs to be closed at the
highest level of sprinting.
―I know it sounds close, but that‘s about five meters on the track,‖ Wariner said. ―But as long as I keep training the way I
have and I stay focused and motivated, it‘s there. It‘s right there for me.‖
Johnson’s legacy secure
While it may seem curious that the current record holder — Johnson — is helping Wariner‘s assault on the mark, the pair
sees nothing unusual in their partnership.
―To me, the greatest part of breaking the world record was in pushing myself in order to get the achievement,‖ Johnson
said. ―I reached my goal and nobody will ever be able to take away that moment that I felt or the feat that I achieved.
―But that‘s a part of my life that‘s over now. I don‘t consider myself still a track and field athlete. I‘m not the world record
holder or the fastest man in the world … well, maybe I am still that.
―Some people don‘t have any goals after they finish. They wake up every day and say, ‗Hey, I‘m the world record holder
and that makes me feel good about myself.‘ That is not what makes me feel good about myself. This is what I do.‖
Johnson is more mentor/guru/advisor to Wariner, who left long-time coaching legend Clyde Hart in January due to a
contract disagreement over money to train under Baylor associate coach Michael Ford.
―It‘s something I had thought about doing earlier,‖ Wariner said. ―Coach Hart (73) is getting older and I know he‘s probably
thinking about a time to retire. I thought now would be the best time to make the change. Coach Ford trained under coach
Hart when he went to Baylor, and he‘s been coaching with coach Hart for eight years now. His set of philosophies is the
same as coach Hart‘s. My workouts are the same. Everything on the track is exactly the same.‖
The one jarring difference is that the defending world and Olympic champ and No. 1-ranked 400-meter man of the past
several years has been challenged and beaten twice by Merritt in the run-up to Beijing.
Wariner has bounced back since the trials to win three straight 400s, including a victory over Merritt in Paris on July 18 in
which he posted a 43.86, the fastest time in the world this year.
―I‘m still the favorite in the Olympics,‖ Wariner said. ―I‘ve been there before and I know when it takes to run the rounds
back-to-back.
―Losing those races doesn‘t do anything to me. Actually, it helps me out knowing that people can beat me at any time. I‘ve
got to train harder and work harder.
―I‘m not going to make any excuses. A loss is a loss. But one thing Michael Johnson told me is that when I‘m running at
my best and I‘m running in the 43s, he‘s gonna have to run a personal record (Merritt‘s is 43.96) to beat me. My goal for
the summer is to defend my Olympic gold medal and nothing has changed to make me think that won‘t happen.‖
Labels don’t stick
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Wariner has long since outrun the label of ―the next Michael Johnson‖ and he isn‘t often asked anymore about being the
anomaly of a top-ranked American sprinter who happens to be white.
―I‘m just me and I never thought about any of those things,‖ he said. ―I honestly never considered my race when I started
out racing. I just figured that if you‘re good at something and work hard at it, you can be the best.
―As far as Michael is concerned, it‘s great being compared to a great athlete like him. But I know that I‘m going to have to
do better than he‘s done to be on top. I need to break his world record and win more titles and do things that he never
did.‖
Johnson tells him constantly that the only way to break the world record is go out in every race with the thought that he
can break it, maybe even this summer. But Johnson knows that he got within one-tenth of a second of the record in 1996
and then it took him three more years to crack it.
2016 a possibility
―If I stay on top of my body, make sure I get treatment when I need it and stay healthy and don‘t get injured, I would love
to go through 2016,‖ Wariner said. ―Hopefully, Chicago gets the Olympics and I would love to end my career there at an
American Olympics.
―Michael was 31 when he broke the world record. I‘d be 32 in 2016. And I‘m gonna know when it‘s time to retire. There are
some athletes out there who are still trying to run when they know they‘re not as good as they once were. I don‘t want to
be one of those. When it‘s time for me to stop, I‘ll stop.‖
Right now, it‘s the starts. He adjusts the sunglasses. He tucks the chain inside his shirt. He settles back into the blocks
one more time.
―When I get into those blocks,‖ said Jeremy Wariner, ―I want it all to be perfect.‖
[email protected]
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HTTP://OLYMPIANTIPS.BLOGSPOT.COM/2008/08/SECRET-WEAPONS-GEARS-BEHINDGOLD.HTML
MONDAY, AUGUST 18, 2008
Secret weapons: The gears behind the gold
The latest technology may be helping Olympians to break records in Beijing
The tech-edge
World records are tumbling fast at this year's Olympics. In fact, 10 world records were shattered in
the first three days – in just the sport of swimming alone! Are the athletes that much fitter? Or is it
the gear? "Not only have we seen a tremendous number of records fall, but we can expect a whole
lot more," says Dave Zinczenko, editor-in-chief of Men's Health and editorial director of Women's
Health. "That's because the athletes are training and even eating better than ever before, and they
understand how their bodies work better than ever. But it's also because every sport seems to have
introduced record-breaking technology to give nature a boost." Here's a rundown of the gear that's
giving athletes an edge.
Swim like a fish
TYR Tracer Rise and Speedo LZR Racer: Swimming has certainly been the most talked about sport
at the Olympics, and much of that is due to inspired performances, as well as state-of-the-art
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swimsuits. The Speedo LZR Racer uses ultrasonically bonded seams to help reduce drag so
swimmers glide through the water in the same graceful way dolphins do. The effect is like painting
on your swimsuit. And if you feel invincible in your suit, your body just might go along for the ride.
It's mind over water!
TYR's competitive suit, the Tracer Rise, was worn most notably by Matt Grevers, who just picked up
both a gold and silver medal in it. This suit uses compression panels that contour certain muscle
groups to control movement. Basically, it's a Batman costume for swimmers. These panels keep the
muscles of the body properly positioned, so it ensures that oxygen efficiently makes its way
through the body. (These suits aren't just a second skin; they improve on skin!)
Camera ready
Dartfish technology: The camera reveals every flaw. And in this case, it can reveal split-second
flaws in a player's form. Dartfish uses digital video and software that breaks down movement into
fractions of a second, from start to finish, so even the tiniest of flaws – invisible to the naked eye –
become visible. On Dartfish, a sprinter who leaves the blocks just a millisecond too slow would look
like Archie Bunker getting out of his recliner. You can even show that sprinter running against
himself in other races, to see where he has succeeded or failed. (That may be the only way anyone
can beat Michael Phelps, in fact. On Dartfish, swimming against himself!) What's amazing is that
competitors are using the technology against each other: The French handball team used it in
preparation for the Olympics to scout other teams to break down their opponents' strengths and
weaknesses.
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All sports
Suunto T6: Forget filaments and microchips: The greatest technology is ultimately the human
body, so the harder and smarter you train, the better you can perform. The Suunto T6 may look
like your standard heart rate monitor, but it also calculates your excess post-exercise oxygen
consumption, or EPOC. The higher your EPOC, the harder you've just worked out, as the muscles
require additional oxygen to replace that used during your practice session. You don't always want
to kill yourself in training though, so knowing the exercise load, athletes can make an optimal
training plan and to avoid both over- and under-training. Just to give you an idea of how much
athletes value this device, those using the previous model in the 2006 Winter Games won a
combined 34 medals, more than any other single country.
Drink to this
PureSport: You've heard of carbo-loading, which is when athletes eat a whole lot of pasta before
and after a big race? Well, athletes are realizing that a more balanced nutritional load will help
them bounce back from a race faster. PureSport is called a "nutritional delivery system." We used
to have food, now we just have "nutritional delivery systems." This one was designed by John Ivy,
chairman of Kinesiology and Health Education at University of Texas. It's meant to be consumed
within 30 minutes of completing a workout to maximize the replenishment of energy used during
exercise, as well as ensuring speedy muscle recovery. Think about how precise this is: PureSport
has a carb-to-protein ratio of 2.67 to 1. Way more scientific than spaghetti and meatballs. It's
particularly popular with the US Swim Team; Michael Phelps says, "It's "the best performance drink
I've ever found." By the way, you can get almost the same effect by drinking chocolate milk after a
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workout, which has a similar carb-to-p rotein ratio and has spread from preschool to professional
athletes in recent years. Studies show that chocolate milk speeds workout recovery faster than
regular milk, and faster than many sports beverages. (Just watch out when they start dumping it on
coaches' heads; sour milk is a tough smell to get rid of!)
No sweat
Nike's USA team basketball jerseys: When you have to dunk over a giant like Yao Ming, you need
all the vertical lift you can get. For years, sneaker companies have been trying to make lighter
basketball shoes, but what about the jerseys? To put even more pop in Team USA's vertical, Nike
eliminated 25 centimeters of material to reduce the weight of the jersey by 31 percent. (And when
players try to grab some jersey to keep Kobe from jumping out of the gym, they'll come up emptyhanded.) The back is also notable: It's made of a special mesh called Aerographics that uses half
the typical amount of yarn, to be even lighter and to cool the player.
Up to bat
The Mizuno Frenzy Softball bat: Softball may be in its last run at the Olympics, but this bat will
help it go out with a bang. The Mizuno Frenzy – the one used by the U.S. women's team – uses the
same carbon material found in the body of Boeing's new 787, triple layered on top of each other.
The result is a bat with a 16 percent larger sweet spot and 38 percent less vibration, so the power
goes into the ball, not the ladies' hands.
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Victory kicks
The Zoom Victory middle-distance spike: Traditional sprint shoes are built for speed, but not built
to last. Recall those legendary gold sneakers that Michael Johnson wore: They weighed in at 112
grams, but would collapse and split at the seams after more than 40 seconds – which was all the
time Johnson needed. To design a shoe for middle-distance runners, Nike started from the ground
up and weighed every component individually to create a shoe that could crack 100 grams but last
in a longer race. The solution was to use something called the Flywire design, which is a support
structure much like a suspension cable bridge. Additional weight was subtracted by punching a hole
in the heel. The cool news for runners who will hit the pavement more than the track is that the
Flywire design is being incorporated into more traditional running shoes as well. (But I don't
recommend painting them gold; there was only one Michael Johnson, after all.)
Wet shoes
Adidas rowing shoes: When you think about rowers, you think about those awesome back muscles.
Well, some of us do, I guess. But the legs are actually the ENGINE that propels the boat. At the
beginning of each stroke, the rowers are kicking themselves back on a sliding seat, so they want
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the energy from their kicks to be going directly toward the front of the boat.
Adidas came up with a shoe that has outriggers on the sides, so all the force propels the boat
toward the finish line. From a safety perspective, what's really cool is this familiar Adidas threestripe design. Should the boat capsize, the rower can simply unhook these straps to release the
shoes and escape quickly.
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Some new angles on the Olympics
Thursday, August 14th 2008, 4:00 AM
How/Getty
A slow-mo breakdown helped viewers understand gymnast Alicia Sacramone's slipup.
Sometimes, anybody who's in the building with an Instamatic camera can capture a
great sports moment.
With the Olympics, it's a little trickier - and NBC's high-tech camera work has been a big
reason the network seems to be turning these Games into gold.
NBC's cameras in the pool have broken down swimming races more finely than before,
and the multiple angles on gymnastics - how about those overheads? - have provided a
similar insight into the mechanics of that sport, even when the results have been less
heartening for American viewers.
Most of the high-tech camera work in Beijing isn't new. The Dive-Cam, which follows a
diver down into the water, was introduced in Atlanta in 1996. Several track-and-field
cameras that will be in action next week showed up in 2000.
But they're getting better, and so are the operators. While occasionally NBC seems to
playing with its toys, collectively they make it a better show, the way figure-skating
breakdowns have made that rather arcane sport into a winter star.
That's good for NBC, too, since the network has an $894 million bet on a sporting event
that has few built-in stars, give or take Michael Phelps.
While there hasn't been one single killer moment so far, here are five to remember:
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Jason Lezak's last leg of the 200-meter relay against French world-record holder Alain Bernard. Lezak won by 0.08 seconds, and not
even NBC's cameras could capture a distinct image of his hand hitting the wall while Bernard's still had not. But the multiple, multi-angle
replays let American TV viewers savor the full Rocky feeling.
Alicia Sacramone's slip on the balance beam. This was as painful as Lezak's victory was enjoyable, but the slow-motion breakdown told
the story: that four years of obsessive training can crumble with a single involuntary wobble at the wrong time.
StroMotion of the platform diving. StroMotion, which puts sequential pictures into one image, is an old technique with still photos. But for
diving or gymnastics, it's a fascinating breakdown of something that otherwise is over in a heartbeat.
Georgia vs. Russia in beach volleyball. Against the somber backdrop of Russia invading Georgia, two women from each country battled
across a net in the sand. When Georgia won, the shot of the teams embracing was one of those "what the Olympics should be about"
moments that NBC wisely let pretty much speak for itself.
Stephanie Rice edging Kirsty Coventry in the 200-meter individual medley. Here was another case where graphics enhanced an
already good race - the lane markers make it easy to know who's racing, and the "World Record" line gives us a sense of how
completely another world record will fall.
[email protected]
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NASA-inspired sneaker soles, ping-pong paddles that whip the ball, "ballistic"
artificial kayak courses...
by Gregory Mone
The spirit of the Olympics may date back to ancient times, but its methods have evolved since a bunch of leather-clad Greek men broke
each others‘ fingers in wrestling matches. For all the political controversy, the 2008 Beijing Olympics might be most notable as the
games that went high-tech. The torch was designed by the personal computer manufacturer Lenovo. Some events will take place in an
aquatics center inspired by the Weaire-Phelan structure, a physics model that describes how soap bubbles form. But the real impact of
science and technology will play out on the fields and the track and in the pool.
The International Olympic Committee tries to ensure that the competition is between athletes and not their gear. That has not stopped
manufacturers and coaches from seeking technological advantages, however. For example, a software package called Dartfish is
standard training equipment among U.S. athletes; it enables coaches to record an athlete in action, then instantly review the
performance, freezing a frame to highlight a glitch. After immediate feedback, the athlete can head right back out and make the
necessary adjustment—and study the results later at home by means of the system‘s Web-publishing feature. Johnson & Johnson is
working with various teams to improve athletes‘ visual skills. And other programs are double top secret: Jim Miller, the endurance
programs director for USA Cycling, will not divulge the advanced training techniques his group has developed until after the Games.
Sometimes the newest, coolest gear is only marginally better than what it replaces. But technological one-upmanship may confer a
psychological advantage. Brent Rushall, a human performance expert and sports psychology professor emeritus at San Diego State
University, says athletes can perform worse if they believe the competition has significantly better equipment. The most telling case
may be in the pool. Some swimmers have called for Speedo‘s reengineered suit to be banned, since sponsorship affiliations may force
them to wear a different brand. Others insist that the emphasis on space-age materials in swimming and in other sports is overblown. ―It
always comes back to the ability of the athlete,‖ says Tom Parrish, leader of the U.S. Olympic archery team.
Heart-stopping contests and photo-finish races are a given at the Olympics, but 2008 is a year of more subtle competitions, too. Look
for who sports that new Speedo suit, how kayakers fare on the faster artificial whitewater course, whether U.S. cyclists can transform
lighter wheels into bigger leads. This is your guide to the science and technology face-off, the match within the match.
Table tennis: watch for . . .
Both the ball‘s spin—its action as it bounces off the table—and its speed. Given the speed, you‘ll need to wait for the instant replays.
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Table Tennis
Don‘t call it Ping–Pong. Modern table tennis is one of the world‘s most popular sports, and a match between top-notch competitors
looks like a hard-court tennis game played in fast-forward. The ball jumps off the paddle at up to 60 miles an hour and can spin as fast
as 9,000 revolutions per minute. It shouldn‘t be a surprise, then, that the paddles used at the highest levels don‘t much resemble the
busted-up wooden things sitting on the average basement pong table. ―More spin and more speed are demanded than 10 years ago,‖
says Junichi Toda, an engineer at Killerspin, a Chicago-based equipment maker.
Teodor Gheorghe, technical director of U.S. Table Tennis, says all the top players use advanced paddles, so it‘s hard for one player to
gain a technological edge. One of the new Killerspin models is covered with a dense synthetic rubber that offers more surface tension.
Because the molecules are packed closer together than in standard rubber, Toda says, there are more particles to grip the ball, and a
player can transfer more spin with the same swing. Competition rules specify that the blade must be at least 85 percent natural wood.
Inside the wood, though, you might find a hybrid titanium-carbon layer. The carbon fiber adds speed, while the titanium ―bends like a
bow and shoots a ball as if shooting an arrow,‖ Toda says. Killerspin is also incorporating a new material called Texalium, a glass fiber
with an aluminum coating. It is supposed to improve defensive play because it gives and is therefore more effective at absorbing the
impact of a ball.
Image © Speedo
Swimming: watch for . . .
New gear from Mizuno, Nike, and others, who are debuting their own space-age swimsuits. Look for who wears what—and who wins—
to see if suits really matter.
Swimming
For the second time in as many Games, Speedo has triumphantly trotted out a revolutionary space-age swimsuit, and in the months
leading up to Beijing, the LZR Racer didn‘t make waves just in the pool. It generated serious controversy, too.
The suit, which leaves the arms and shoulders exposed but extends to the swimmer‘s ankles, features a series of polyurethane-based,
millimeter-thick panels designed to reduce drag. Watch a swimmer in a traditional suit pushing off a wall and you‘ll notice a kind of
rippling effect in the muscles—even if the swimmer has almost zero body fat. Speedo ran computational fluid dynamics tests to identify
these drag hot spots, then placed panels in parts of the suit that cover the chest, thighs, and other friction spots to cancel out the ripple.
At press time, swimmers wearing the LZR Racer had broken 37 world records since the February unveiling, causing many to cry
technological foul. Others say that Speedo‘s claims about the suit‘s performance-enhancing, drag-reducing capabilities are marketing
double-talk rather than real science. Rushall insists that the faster times should be attributed to recent advances in stroke mechanics
and training techniques; freestylers, for example, have stopped pulling through an S-shaped curve, adopting a straighter, more powerful
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path for each stroke. Anything that gives swimmers a psychological boost is more important than the new suits, Rushall argues. ―If I
could get the top 100 swimmers in the world to swim with their faces painted red,‖ he says, ―I could make the same claims as Speedo.‖
+++
Cycling: watch for . . .
How the cyclists fare on the climbing portions of the road race—and whether the U.S. riders outduel the competition up the hills, where
weight savings are crucial.
Cycling
The focus this year is not on the bike—it‘s on the wheels. USA Cycling turned to aerospace engineer Paul Lew for lighter, stronger
wheels. What‘s an aircraft guy doing in cycling? Lew says bicycles and airplanes are similar in that a reduction in weight and increase in
strength should automatically enhance performance.
Image courtesy of Lew Racing
The spokes of his new wheel, the VT-1, have an airfoil shape. Since they taper to a sharp edge, they are aerodynamically more efficient
than standard cylindrical spokes. But the real advance is in the material. Lew is using a new boron-based composite—something he
first started experimenting with while building unmanned aerial vehicles, including the Inventus class of long-range, autonomous
surveillance planes. The boron composite, he says, is three times as strong as carbon fiber of the same weight. Although he has
extensively tested his wheel in wind tunnels and other environments, Lew isn‘t releasing the data yet. The principle is simple, however:
By applying the same force to less mass, riders should be able to generate more acceleration.
Each U.S. cyclist will get a custom-made set of VT-1s, but if you want your own, prepare to open your wallet. The first commercial
wheels, which will be available after the Games, could go for as much as $15,000 a pair.
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Image courtesy of
Kisik Lee/USA Archery
Archery: watch for . . .
How training affects the archers‘ form: A balanced, solid stance is critical, and some coaches differ on how much weight athletes should
place on their front, or leading, foot
Archery
Not to knock the world‘s best-known archer—the dashing Legolas of the Lord of the Rings movies, who launches arrows on the move
and from all positions—but the Olympic Games reward consistency. Every archer stands the same way, the same distance from the
same target. ―Archery is a sport of accuracy and repetition,‖ says George Tekmitchov, an engineer at Hoyt, a bow manufacturer in Salt
Lake City. The goal for engineers, therefore, is to design bows that behave the same way every time; an archer who trains in an arid
climate, for instance, shouldn‘t have to adjust his form to account for Beijing‘s expected humidity. As a result, today‘s top bows typically
have a core of syntactic foam. This material is light and strong, made up of tiny, hollow spheres that don‘t change volume when the
temperature spikes or drops, thus keeping the bow‘s behavior constant. One of Hoyt‘s latest bows, the 900CX, aims for a slight edge in
the technology race by replacing the typical fiberglass outer coating with a much lighter synthetic polymer and using a higher
percentage of carbon fiber inside. The advantage of the new bow, Tekmitchov says, is higher efficiency. ―It transfers more energy to the
shot instead of wasting it on bending the thing.‖
But the best bow in the world won‘t help poor form. U.S. team leader Parrish, who is also high-performance manager for USA Archery,
the sport‘s governing body, says the group recently brought in a high-speed video camera that captures 1,200 frames per second. This
is hardly overkill, given that the arrow flies from the bow at 220 feet per second; it moves two inches from one frame to the next. The
new camera allows coaches to analyze minute errors in an archer‘s technique. ―You can actually see the arrow coming out of the bow,‖
Parrish says.
Tennis: watch for . . .
The close calls. Twice in each match, players will be allowed to challenge the human judge‘s ruling and leave it up to artificial
intelligence.
Tennis
They may as well just start calling it nanotennis. At Beijing, the players‘ rackets will incorporate materials that filter vibrations, allowing
only certain frequencies to flow through to their hands, and titanium nanofibers that impart extra strength without adding weight. Dunlop
and Head, two major racket manufacturers, are also touting the use of aerogel —the incredibly low-density solid that NASA used to
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collect comet particles as part of its Stardust mission—in their latest models. The material is supposed to impart stiffness without
increasing weight and distribute the impact of a ball better throughout the racket head. The companies say this translates to more
power and better feel.
Nevertheless, the game‘s most visible scientific upgrade may not be in the equipment but in the officiating. Tennis at the 2008 Olympics
will feature the Hawk-Eye computerized line judge system. Hawk-Eye, which made its Wimbledon debut last year, calculates the flight
path of a ball by estimating its 3-D position from a series of snapshots taken by as many as 10 cameras. The system then projects the
path forward to the point at which the ball hits the ground, objectively revealing whether it struck in or out.
The
lightweight Zoom Victory, made from supertough astrofabric.
Image courtesy of Nike
Running: watch for . . .
How the runners' feet strike the ground in the longer races. The top competitors should barely touch with their heels. Newton running
shoes accentuate this form in elite runners and encourage it in those with less-than-perfect technique.
Running
Nike‘s Zoom Victory should make the most noise on the track, as the company‘s new-tech shoes have at recent Olympics. The
lightweight track shoe gets its support from 116 cables spun out of Vectran—the same material NASA used in the air bags that
cushioned the Spirit and Opportunity rovers when they landed on Mars. While Nike‘s shoes may draw the most attention, though, a
small company in Boulder, Colorado, called Newton Running is trying to have a much larger impact on the sport.
Founder Danny Abshire, a longtime running coach and orthotics expert, has been working for more than a decade on a shoe that
makes you feel as if you‘re running barefoot. He says most runners have poor form: They strike with their heels first and opt for a longer
stride instead of higher turnover. When running barefoot, though, you tend to correct these errors, so the Newton shoes encourage a
more efficient gait by tricking the foot into thinking it is naked. The forefoot section of the shoe‘s sole includes four small rubber blocks
that move up and down relative to the rest of the shoe. When you hit the ground, the lugs press against a stretchable membrane below
your foot, which then pushes back as you launch into the next step. ―It‘s basically an energy storage and retrieval system,‖ Abshire
says. Several world-class triathletes have tested the Newton in major races and significantly dropped their times.
+++
20
Whitewater kayaking: watch for . . .
The gates. Paddlers are penalized for hitting or missing gates as they race down. Shorter boats should improve handling, helping the
kayakers stay on course, but the faster artificial river will do its best to throw them off.
Whitewater Kayaking
Since the 2000 Olympics, the whitewater kayaking event has moved from natural rivers to artificial courses in which the water‘s speed
and flow, the height of waves, and the obstacles can all be adjusted. These man-made rivers are narrower, and their smooth concrete
floors make for a course that is faster and less turbulent than nature‘s waterways. Scott Shipley, a three-time Olympian in the event,
says the races are now a bit more like cycling. The boats move so fast that you can bank into turns instead of just paddling through
them. He calls the event ―ballistic.‖
The Beijing course will be one-of-a-kind—the Chinese redesigned it after an exact replica of their course was built in the Netherlands.
That might sound like a serious home-court advantage, but U.S. kayakers should be well prepared. Shipley designed a course in
Charlotte, North Carolina, that several national teams, including the U.S. squad, have been using to train. A pneumatic pump inflates
bladders along the bottom to change its shape and, consequently, the form of the waves on the surface. Obstacles can easily be
switched around, and pinball-style paddles extending from the walls squeeze the water in spots, altering both its flow and its height.
The courses aren‘t the only big change in the event. Paddlers will also be able to race in boats that are 11/2 feet shorter than at the last
Games—they lobbied for the change so they could better maneuver the boats through the trickier artificial courses. The kayaks have to
weigh at least 19 pounds, but John Brennan, a coach and boat designer in Durango, Colorado, says builders will typically aim to come
in a few ticks below that limit, then add weight to the rider‘s seat. By moving more mass to the middle, Brennan says, you make it easier
for the boat to swing around its center of gravity. He says this kind of design trick, combined with the shorter, 2008-model kayaks, have
made the sport far more dynamic. ―These guys are doing moves that honestly just blow you away,‖ he says.
Volleyball: watch for . . .
High-arcing set shots. See if the ball moves around due to turbulence. Study how the players position the ball on their serve and
whether they are using the ball‘s new seams effectively to generate more spin.
Volleyball
In Beijing the human pogo sticks known as volleyball players will have to pay attention to more than just their opponents. They will also
be striking a new kind of ball. Mikasa, a leading equipment manufacturer, has produced two new models, one for the indoor event and
another for the beach. The outdoor version has a water-wicking outer material that prevents the ball from absorbing moisture—and
gaining weight—during a match. It also has a new stitch pattern that, combined with smaller threads, does a better job at keeping sand
out of the seams.
The indoor ball is radically different too. The biggest change is its newly dimpled, golf-ball-like surface. Tiny divots reduce the ball‘s
aerodynamic drag and, according to Mikasa, allow it to fly truer through the air. The dimples also increase the surface area that comes
into contact with players‘ hands, which should give the competitors more control.
U.S. men‘s head coach Hugh McCutcheon says that Mikasa‘s aesthetic alterations are significant too. The company switched the ball‘s
panels to a swirling pattern. McCutcheon thinks that because of the resulting change in the seams, a player can actually produce more
spin by hitting the new ball in certain spots rather than others. Mikasa has shipped each national team a set of practice balls to give
players time to adjust, which McCutcheon says is critical. ―When you are trying to win medals,‖ he says, ―the way the ball plays is a big
part.‖
Field hockey: watch for . . .
How the ball hydroplanes over the surface of the field, and whether Nike‘s new cleats prevent the players from slipping.
21
Field Hockey
For several years China has been touting its plans to host an environmentally friendly Olympics. In field hockey, that means reducing
water consumption. Matches are held on artificial turf that is watered heavily prior to the game and during halftime. The watering
speeds up play, allowing the ball to hydroplane across the thin layer of moisture at the surface, but a single game might use as many as
15,000 gallons. A giant water footprint doesn‘t exactly scream Earth Day.
In Beijing players will be racing across a new surface developed by chemical engineer Martin Schlegel and his team at Advanced
Polymer Technology in Harmony, Pennsylvania, and their subsidiary in Australia. With more efficient drainage, the company‘s system
cuts water consumption by 40 percent. And the rubber subsurface—which Schlegel says absorbs more force than standard artificial
fields and should thus reduce player injuries—has an elastic layer made from recycled materials. But this is the Olympics, after all, so
the new field isn‘t all about minimizing environmental impact. It‘s designed to improve play as well. Accordingly, Schlegel opted for turf
that‘s denser than the standard surface. The last Olympic field used 55,000 stitches per square meter; the new one uses 75,000. This
increase should result in a more uniform field that allows the ball, when struck, to keep on a straight path instead of being nudged in
one direction or another by the fake grass blades. It has also forced shoe designers to adjust: Nike footwear design director Sean
McDowell says the company tested 20 prototypes on the Beijing turf before choosing a shoe that the players said gave them the best
grip, enabling faster cuts.
BMX: watch for . . .
Who wins the gold in the unofficial fashion event, but study those first five seconds of the race, too. Whoever leads into the first turn has
the best chance to stand atop the podium.
BMX
As part of an ongoing effort to make the Olympics more appealing to young people, this year‘s Games will feature BMX, or bicycle
motocross. Make no mistake, though: The riders are true athletes. BMX experts say their racers rank with the top Olympic participants
in terms of strength-to-weight ratio.
A BMX race is an all-out sprint around a dirt track full of tight turns, bumps, and jumps. Typically, the tracks start on flat ground, so the
most powerful riders, those who generate the most acceleration in the first few cranks of their pedals, have the advantage. That‘s why
strength is so critical. In Beijing, though, BMXers will start at the top of a 30-foot-high ramp. Because all of the competitors get the same
gravity assist, the riders with the biggest kick will lose their advantage. But the U.S. Olympic Committee wasn‘t going to let this
procedural change hurt its team; the organization commissioned a near replica of the Beijing track in Chula Vista, California, for
training.
This year‘s BMX bikes feature advanced materials; one manufacturer says its high-tech construction method allows it to strengthen the
frames at stress points with stiffer carbon fiber and to use lighter blends in other spots to save weight. But overall the sci-tech craze
hasn‘t hit BMX as hard as it has road cycling. In fact, when the Australian Olympic team tested out skintight aerodynamic bike suits at a
recent competition, they were mocked by fans. ―The skin suits made them look silly,‖ says U.S. National Bicycle League official Justin
Travis. The sport‘s international governing body subsequently banned the slick outfits: In BMX, speed is important, but you‘ve got to
look good, too.
Click here to see the rest of DISCOVERmagazine.com's special Olympics coverage.
22
LC track coach to help Olympic team's performance
By Nat Newell
Posted: July 31, 2008
Lawrence Central High School boys track coach Mike Holman described his role on the U.S. Olympic track team's support staff as a
"tiny piece of the whole thing."
Of course, at that level of competition, a hundredth of a second or fraction of an inch can be the whole thing.
Holman will be a member of the video analysis crew during the team's workouts in China in preparation for the Olympics and during the
events.
He will operate a computer program that allows athletes and their coaches to analyze every angle and velocity of their performance off
video in search of the tiniest improvement.
"This is a once in a lifetime opportunity to play a small part in the Olympic Games; it's not something you turn down," Holman said.
"At this level, a hundredth of a second is all that's between standing on the podium and watching someone else's flag go up. For an
athlete to see their performance (immediately) helps tremendously."
Holman was on the national team staff for the World Indoor Championships in Moscow in 2006 and the Junior Pan Am team in 1999
and has been running camps for junior athletes and coaches in San Diego for the past 12 years to improve the talent base in the United
States.
In workouts leading up to the Olympics at the U.S. training center in Dalian, China, Holman will record athletes in action and process
that information through a video analysis program called Dartfish.
After the workouts, athletes and their coaches will have Holman call up specific moments or information provided by the software in
search of ways to improve their performance.
"In Moscow, (shot putter) Reese Hoffa went through a series of (practice) throws, and when he looked at the video, he stood up,
pumped and said, 'I've never been that fast,' " Holman said.
"He could look at it and immediately communicate with his coach . . . then he went out and won a gold medal."
During the Olympics, Holman can download the NBC feeds -- "They have a million cameras," he said -- and the athletes and coaches
will have access to the information between rounds of competition. His coaching experience helps isolate the information the athletes
are looking for.
Holman, who also spent time with the team at the Olympic training camp last week, planned to leave for China on Wednesday and
travel to Dalian. There will be two weeks of preparation there, and then the team goes to Beijing on Aug. 13 and he returns to the
United States on Aug. 24.
"I'm excited and humbled by the opportunity to be one little tiny piece of the whole thing," Holman said. "It'll be exciting to be around
that, and I'm looking forward to it."
23
Know thy enemy with France's spy software
Thu Aug 7, 2008 2:54am EDT
By Sophie Hardach
BEIJING (Reuters) - Intricate spy software has helped France's handballers improve their game and head
coach Philippe Bana was hoping to see the dividends at the upcoming Olympics.
The French started using software combining videos of all the players in the world with match statistics to
train their teams after Scandinavian handballers successfully incorporated the technology into their
training program.
Studying their opponents' every move, strength and weakness, is meant to help players devise the perfect
counter-attack.
Bana, speaking with Reuters Thursday during a men's practice session, said the female team "is now able
to destroy their (opponents') attack and defense systems."
Similar software is already widely used by footballers and rugby players, but it is still relatively new in
handball.
France used a rudimentary version of the current system for the Sydney Games in 2000 but only applied
the current software, called "Dartfish," for the Athens Olympics.
"It's a completely different approach, we have video specialists as part of the team so now there is this
culture of the video statistic," Bana said, kicking a stray ball back into the field.
France's women will play the first handball match of the Olympics on Saturday morning against Angola,
while the men's first game is against Brazil on Sunday afternoon.
In Athens, France narrowly lost to Ukraine and finished fourth, missing the bronze medal.
Despite the elaborate technology, Bana said the game is ultimately won on the court.
"It's not a videogame, at the end the player is playing. In the end, you are alone in the court," Bana said.
"This is a human game so you can't go too far in this (software) direction because the player is not a
robot."
The Beijing Olympics begin Friday.
(Editing by Steve Ginsburg)
24
Houston Athletes Train At Olympic Center
By Anthony Yanez
POSTED: 10:10 am CDT June 24, 2008
HOUSTON -- Olympians from around the country descend on Colorado Springs, Colo., to train for
their events at the Olympic Training Center, located at the U.S. Olympic Complex. KPRC Local 2's
Anthony Yanez traveled to the facility to see how Houston-area athletes are getting ready for their
competitions.
About 264 athletes live and train for the Olympics at the center, which is nestled at the foot of the
Rocky Mountains.
Sugar Land's own tae kwon do family, the Lopezes, used the facility in June.
"They have state-of-the-art equipment. Scientists here work with us and test us, testing our blood,
testing our oxygen in our blood, so we're really taking advantage of the performance here at the
training center," Mark Lopez said.
Any city with a lot of money can build the gym space to house gymnastics, basketball, volleyball and
more. But what sets this Olympic complex apart is the state-of-the-art sports medicine and sports
science center.
"Amazing it is to have the science of your body and to know what you can eat and can't eat, and how
many days should I peak before I actually fight," Diana Lopez said.
After a workout, Mark Lopez had his foot worked on -- a broken toe was checked out and iced.
A sore Achilles on Diana Lopez was also cared for.
Triathlete Sarah Haskins needs her body to recover quickly after competitions and workouts.
Massages from specialized trainers did the trick.
"You have the hot tub and the cool plunge right next to each other, so more than anything it's just a
stress reliever, not having to financially support it and not have to plan it on your own," Haskins said.
"They don't have to worry about paying a lease or renewing a lease or paying a cable bill. We're
going to handle those basics for them. So, that those basic needs are handled and they get to
operate at the highest level of thinking about how on Earth do I train and recover six to eight hours a
day," said Glen Werner Rosenboom, of the Olympic Training Center.
The complex is not just for Olympians. The Junior National Basketball Team holds its tryouts there.
The floor already bears the international markings.
"When you take the combination of what they have to offer, the fact that you can stay in the dorms
and live 100 feet from the dining hall, which is 100 feet from three gyms next to each other -- you
can't beat that," said Carol Callan, the assistant executive director of USA Basketball.
The sports scientists discovered that two-time gold medalist Steven Lopez loses nine pounds of water
in a 90-minute workout. His performance suffered as his matches wore on.
"They are going as far as making this special drink that has glycol and Creatine in it where I'm
supposed to drink the day before and it's supposed to add three or four pounds of water weight," he
said.
But it's not all about the science. Every gym is equipped with cameras in order for athletes to review
their performances.
25
"We have sports psychology, sports kinesiology. We have access to Dartfish which allows us to
record footage and rewind it and forward it and freeze frame it," Olympic taekwondo coach Jean
Lopez said.
There is even a replica Olympic flame to put the athletes in the right frame of mind.
The U.S. Olympic Complex is the headquarters for the U.S. Olympic Committee administration and
the Olympic Training Center programs.
In October 1996 and April 1997, the USOC officially dedicated and opened the $23.8 million, Phase II
facilities -- a state-of-the-art sports medicine and sport science center, and an athlete center, which
includes a dining hall and two residence halls. The USOC is able to provide housing, dining,
recreational facilities and other services for up to 557 coaches and athletes at one time on the
complex.
Copyright 2008 by Click2Houston.com. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast,
rewritten or redistributed.
26

1 Dartfish in Beijing 2008 (for internal use only)

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