, from now on your world more science~
From the first modern Olympic Games in 1896 to the present, the competitive nature of the Olympic Games has remained unchanged. The world's best athletes come together to compete faster, higher, and stronger. However, the impact of technological developments on sports is huge, making many sports more modern, scientific and precise, and providing a huge boost for players to push their limits.
Sword and electricity
During the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games, foil athletes competed for bronze medals
Fencing is a fairly old sport that has its origins in the swordsmanship used in duels and self-defense. From the middle of the 18th century, it began to evolve from military training to sports.
The battle of swordsmen is electrifying, and the position of the sword blade is often a thousand miles. Sometimes both sides stab their targets at almost the same time. Therefore, it is difficult to judge whether a swordsman has hit or not with the naked eye, and it is easy to make mistakes. Serge Timacheff, veteran fencing photographer and head ·of communications at the International Fencing Federation, said: "We have always said that in the Olympic Movement, the only thing that is faster than fencing is the bullet. ”
Fortunately, fencing has always been supported by technology. As early as the 19th century, attempts were made to use electrical devices to help determine whether a hit was a hit; The 1896 London Olympics were the first to use an electronic scoring system in fencing.
Modern fencing is divided into three types of swords: foil, épée and saber. Every type of sword that we see now swinging by fencers is electrified.
Electric epee first appeared at the 1936 Olympic Games. A struck by the tip of a epee sword to any part of the opponent from head to toe counts as a strike, so scoring points is relatively straightforward. There is a piston on the tip of the sword. When it touches the opponent hard enough, it will press down, closing the circuit and recording 1 point – the score is immediately transmitted to the scoring system.
Foil, on the other hand, only hits the torso counts. As a result, the electrified foil, introduced for the 1956 Olympic Games, also required athletes to be fitted with electrically conductive fencing suits; So the costume designer introduced metal to the fabric. "When you hit the area of the torso covered by the conductive vest, the circuit closes, generating a signal that triggers the scoring system; If it hits an arm or leg, it is detected as an invalid hit. ”
Beginning with the 1988 Olympics, the entire blade of the saber was electrified. The rules for scoring sabre are to hit the opponent anywhere above the waist except for the arm.
The effective scoring areas for foil, saber and épée are shown in red
Wireless technology that can track all fencing was unveiled for the first time at the Tokyo Olympics, but it has not yet been used in major international competitions, nor will it be seen at the Paris Olympics.
From wool to sharkskin
The United States team won gold in the women's 4×100m relay at the 1924 Paris Olympics
Swimming is a sport that fights resistance. Water is 800 times denser than air, and so is its resistance. For athletes, all of their techniques are designed to reduce water resistance, including frictional resistance, wave resistance, and shape resistance. With the development of fabric technology, the importance of swimsuits to swimmers has become more and more prominent, and even reached the peak of controversy for a time.
A hundred years ago, professional swimsuits were unpretentious and a little abstract. As shown in the photo above in the dress of a swimmer at the Paris Olympics, these early swimsuits were made of wool. To put it mildly, this fabric shouldn't be in the pool.
Later, the swimsuit gradually became lighter and more streamlined.
In 1927, Australia Alexander · MacRae introduced the Racerback swimsuit. When women wore it, their shoulders and backs were exposed—a level of exposure that was illegal in some public baths at the time. The swimsuit fabric changed from wool to smooth silk. In 1928, McRae founded the now-famous sports brand Speedo.
In 1932, at the age ·of 16, Clare Dennis broke the Olympic record in the 200-meter breaststroke. While her Speedo swimsuit met the written Olympic standards, she still had to face protests because the suit didn't cover enough of the shoulder area. By the 1936 Berlin Olympics, the Speedo swimsuit had become a common women's swimsuit; And male athletes began to go topless.
In the early 1970s, "skinsuits" were all the rage. It was originally made of almost transparent cotton, but later made of synthetic fibers and weighed only 100 grams. This swimsuit fits snugly against the human body and greatly reduces drag. They were thought to be unelegant by many because they fit too closely, but athletes who are hungry for good results quickly fall in love with them. According to multiple Olympic champions, tight swimsuits make them feel as if they are "wearing nothing".
At the 2000 Sydney Olympics, the first sharkskin swimsuit, or "Fastskin", developed by Speedo, entered the pool. The swimsuit covers the swimmer's body area from the ankle to the neck, and the material used encounters less resistance in the water than human skin. The fast skin has a ridge-like structure that mimics the protrusion of shark skin, which directs the current and increases swimming speed.
By 2008, Speedo's fourth-generation Fastskin LZR Racer was making waves at the Beijing Olympics: athletes wearing the swimsuit won 98 percent of the medals and set 23 of the 25 new records. The fourth generation of shark skin significantly reduces drag and, thanks to the polyurethane material, increases buoyancy – which is essential for speed. In 2010, the World Swimming Federation banned polyurethane or other non-woven swimsuits and stipulated that swimsuits should not cover the entire body of the athlete.
Speedo unveiled the fourth generation of sharkskin swimsuits ahead of the 2008 Beijing Olympics
However, shortly after the ban was issued, athletes wearing swimsuits that complied with the new rules began to break records again.
Pole vault, change material
At Antwerp 1920, United States pole vaulter ·Frank Foss set a new Olympic record of 4.00 meters and then 4.09 meters
Pole vault has seen a range of innovative applications of materials engineering in the field of sports. The pole can be made of any material, and this flexibility is a prerequisite for innovation, and the innovation of the pole has also changed the athlete's technique, pushing the sport to new heights.
The earliest struts were made of hard ash or hickory, which were heavy and could not be bent. In the years leading up to the first Olympic Games, pole vaulters had to fork the pole on the ground (using an iron fork), climb onto the pole and cross the bar when it was about to topple. This technology was banned before the start of the modern Olympic Games.
At the beginning of the 20th century, contestants used bamboo poles that could be bent slightly. After the athlete sprints for a certain distance, he inserts the pole into the hole, and through the process of elastic deformation and restoration of the bamboo pole, he converts his huge kinetic energy into gravitational potential energy, so as to cross the crossbar at a high point.
The bamboo pole will break when it is bent to a certain extent, and its weight has a great impact on the running speed. Pole vaulters want to find a more desirable replacement. In the 1940s and 50s, they experimented with steel and aluminum rods. And the material that propels the sport to new heights is fiberglass.
The fiberglass pole, and later the carbon pole, which weighed less than 2.27 kg, allowed the athlete to run faster and get more upward energy. As athletes and coaches continued to improve and invent pole vault techniques, we ended up with an Olympic record of 6.03 meters.
The running sole has shifted dramatically
Kenya marathon star Eliud Kipchoge won the marathon gold medal at the Tokyo Olympics in · "super running shoes".
For most of modern Olympic history, running shoes haven't changed much. Marathon and long-distance runners jog in shoes with rubber soles and leather or canvas uppers; Sprinters gallop in leather running shoes with metal spikes.
At the 1924 Olympics, 100-meter champion Harold Abrahams wore running shoes made of lightweight leather ··· metal studs at the front of the sole, made by the team of Joseph William Foster, the grandfather of the now Reebok company, Joseph William Foster (as his grandson also called him).
In the 1970s, the introduction of foam materials led to a radical change in the soles of running shoes, making them more elastic and flexible