ATHLETICS
Track and field events are among the most of all popular sporting competitions. Each year, the world’s best athletes challenge existing records and put OMEGA’s timekeepers to the test. These talented men and women embody the Olympic motto: faster, higher, stronger.
HOW DOES IT WORK?
OMEGA has always been committed to athletics timing and continuously develops the technology it uses to deliver flawless results. OMEGA is responsible for timing some of the most important athletic competitions in the world including the Diamond League Meetings, the European Championships and, of course, the Olympic Games.
While the finish-line photographs from OMEGA’s Scan’O’Vision photofinish cameras are among the best-known images in all of sport, what happens at the beginning of a race is also particularly interesting.
At the start of an event, each athlete’s reaction time is measured using starting blocks mounted on a sliding rail. These blocks are sensitive to the thrust generated by the sprinters' legs and they connect to a second block at the precise moment of each contestant's first thrust. This information is recorded in real time.
It is the responsibility of the starter, with the information which comes to him from the false start control unit, to call the runners back in the case of a false start.
In addition to the technological considerations there is the physiological factor. In order to perceive and interpret the starting signal, a human being has a reaction time of a few tiny fractions of a second. These reaction times vary according to the character of the athlete, his or her degree of preparation and his or her concentration when the pistol goes off.
The rules of the IAAF (International Amateur Athletic Federation) fix the minimum time of physiological reaction at 100 milliseconds (a tenth of a second). Any reaction which takes place below this limit is considered to be premature and places the runner in a false start situation.
A loudspeaker is located at each starting block, so all the competitors, no matter how far away they are from the starting gun, hear the orders to get set and go at exactly the same moment.
SOME CURIOUS RESULTS
The timing of athletics sometimes produces some curious results. For example, in the finals of the men’s 110-metre hurdles at the 1976 Montreal Olympic Games, Alejandro Casañas of Cuba covered the course more quickly than Guy Drut of France; however, Drut won the gold medal because he had a faster reaction time.
One of the most famous 100-metre sprints of all time took place in New York in June of 1991. The winner, Leroy Burrell, set the world record for the distance in 9.90 seconds . . . but he was actually slower than the runner-up. Even though Burrell crossed the finish line first, close analysis of the race revealed that Carl Lewis had been faster over the distance but Burrell’s reaction time was 117 thousandths of a second; Lewis’s was 166 thousandths of a second.
The times for this historic 100 metre sprint:
Leroy Burrell: 9.900 less 117/1000 = 9.783
Carl Lewis : 9.930 less 166/1000 = 9.764
As the start is an integrated part of the race, Burrell was, of course, the winner.
OMEGA – KEEPING PACE WITH THE ATHLETES
Records are made to be broken, it is often said, and the world’s athletes continue to push the limits of speed, strength and endurance. They are faster and stronger than ever before but they share something with their sporting ancestors: they rely on OMEGA’s timekeepers to measure, display and distribute their results flawlessly, as they have done for generations.
