Technological innovations and sports

When one thinks of sports, one doesn’t necessary think of technology. However, things couldn’t be further from the truth. There has been tremendous improvement in the underlying fundamentals of sports equipment, clothing, monitoring, training, and health conditioning and that has brought a new level of performance unseen in history.

Every sport now places a key emphasis on technology and professional teams invest millions to ensure that they have the newest invention that would give them the edge.

Below I will showcase some of the more interesting developments that have had a tremendous impact on various sports.

Running:

Let’s take running as an example. One of the first major innovations came in 1964, where a new electronic automated timing system was launched that had a photo-finish mechanism, which improved the accuracy by 1/100th of second. Another huge leap happened in the 1980s, when radio frequency chips(RFID) were placed on athletes to record their times at specific antenna points and in 2008 new photo finish cameras was implemented that could take 3,000 photos per second.

However, innovation has happened not just in the monitoring aspect but also in the clothes as well. A new model of track shoes can deliver superior, comfort, grid and speed that could give an athlete an edge over their competitors. Now athletic apparel can monitor heart rates, speed, weight distribution and other useful metrics that can allow athletes to further improve their performance. A cool new apparel, created in 2016, even allows for sweat to evaporate rather than being absorbed thereby reducing weight during races. One of the latest innovations in recent years has been the notorious Nike Vaporfly sneakers. Using the latest technology they would allow a runner to improve their overall efficiency by 4% and because of it we have seen phenomenal results such a man running a marathon under 2 hours. All this was possible due to the sneaker’s unique foam and carbon fiber sole that allows the runner to use the kinetic energy and spring-load thereby making their runs more efficient and effective.

One of the most popular sports on the planet is football and the world’s game has been come at the forefront of innovation.

Football:

There has always been discussions, where valid goals were not seen by judges and where illegitimate goals were allowed. All these complaints were addressed by the introduction of Goal-Line Technology(GLT), which was first implemented in 2014; Furthermore, video technology was brought into to the forefront with Video Assistant Referees(VAR), which took years of trials and was implemented on a grand scale for the 2018 World Cup. In addition, to the above improvements major TV channels now use sophisticated interactive boards, where commentators can analyze in real-time any team’s strategy, line-up and playing style bringing a whole new level of analyses to the forefront of the game.

Ever since the Ancient days humans have enjoyed traveling the seas and swimming in them. And water sports as we shall see is no stranger to technological advancements.

Swimming/Diving:

In the year 2000, a virtual imaging superimposed line was introduced to show existing records and see how well the current swimmers were performing. Another important step took place in 2008 a tool called “DiveCam” was introduced that allowed a camera to monitor dives in real-time, thereby monitoring the motion of each diver in free fall. However, the most major improvement in swimming has been in the equipment used by professional athletes. In the 1980s Lycra was the material of choice for swimsuits as it absorbed less water and was free-flowing on a person’s figure. The latest trend came in 2008 during the Beijing Olymprics, with the Speedo LZR, which was so well designed that it actually reduced drag and increased overall performance. In fact the new suit was so successful that 94% of races and 98% of all races were won by people using the suit, which prompted the ban of full body suits by the International Swimming Federation(FINA) in 2009.

One of the major sports that is followed extensively is tennis. Throughout the year major tournaments take place, where millions are watching with anticipation as they await the next point or serve.

Tennis

Tennis has always been a very competitive and difficult sport due to the way points are being counted. That is why it has always benefited with huge improvements in it. The first innovation to the sport came in 1991 with the Radar Gun by IBM, which allowed the monitoring of the ball’s speed, which from then on was officially recorded in the players’ statistics. Another major feat came in 2001 with the introduction of the Hawk-Eye Line-Calling System, which allowed the tracking of the ball and its path using a 3D image; the system was so successful that by 2006 it was used in all major competitions and not only that but players were also allowed to challenge umpire decisions.

Equipment also saw major improvements. Up until the 1980s wooden rackets were more prevalent but new technology allowed the creation of metal rackets, which were sturdier, stronger with increased life spans. New technology become so important that now a lot of major brands make graphite racquets, which are much lighter and allow for improved performance.

In the USA, one of the most popular sports is American Football. It draws millions of fans every years and is adored throughout the country. It is also no stranger to new tech.

American Football

The National Football League(NFL) has made use of technological innovation in a variety of ways.

Radio Frequency Identification(RFID) tags have been placed in players shoulder pads that allows the monitoring of their speed, acceleration, distance ran and distance. Furthermore, due to the recent concerns over concussions special patches have been developed to evaluate whether a player has suffered a concussion. Another interesting development has been the development of Mobile Virtual Players(MVP), which are robotic dummies with whom players can practice without getting injured. MVPs are operated remotely and have been specifically designed for safe use thereby eliminating the risk of injuries during practice.

In conclusion, sports have moved mountains and continue to break humanity’s imagination as to what is possible thanks to the technological advancement that we have come used to. Technology has allowed us to improve the performance, stamina and results consistently and that would remain the case in the future. So what would the next innovation do for us in sports? We have to wait and see.

Sources Used(not an exhaustive list):

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