This really has nothing to do with the inspirational Hollywood flick but has something that is far more important and far more real at stake. It is not a Pseudo sport and it does not have a set script. The Olympics is the ultimate dream of every athlete and to stand on the top step of that podium is what they think about with every drop of blood and sweat that goes in to the preparation. With every Olympics comes not just the ultimate test of the athlete but also the ultimate test of technology in sports. Those magic boots woven with threads of gold, that perfect swimsuit to reduce drag and that perfect body suit to give that extra hundredth of a second in the hundred meter sprint- they all are an integral part of the modern Olympics. Here is the best of the amalgamation between science and sport, human will and modern gadgets- this is trying to find the best possible way to bask in that singular moment of glory on the top step at Beijing 2008...
Chinese Surveillance- Taking a hand from the West!
In what is surely the most surprising of moves and yet the most sensible one China has made, the officials ate Beijing are taking the help of some of the top US Surveillance firms to make sure that everything goes down calm and peaceful come the grand event. With the threat of Tibetan protestors and also a looming threat from international terrorism, it is only obvious that this step was needed. While China prides itself on home-grown technology, ego has not come in the way of Chinese making sure that all is safe and serene at Beijing. It is the Olympics and China is aware of the fact that the world will be watching every move in the country for the two months. China is taking the help of major Chinese firms such as Honeywell, General Electric, United Technologies and I.B.M. to ensure that no unwarranted event happens in during the celebration of human excellence.
Only thing raining at the Olympics is Medals!
It looks that nothing is impossible for the Chinese to achieve even if it means manipulating the rainfall. To ensure that the Olympic Games that will begin in August this year, become a fair weather event, the Beijing Meteorological Bureau claims to have succeeded in their experiments in stopping the rain. Silver iodide, a seeding agent will be used to increase the rate of collision and coalescence of droplets in clouds above zero degrees producing a downdraft that prevents cloud formation. Another method involves firing seeding agents into clouds from anti-aircraft guns before the clouds could reach the games stadium losing all its perspiration at the periphery of the games arena. The Chinese want no dampener on their grand event!
Bird’s Nest and Water Cube- Architecture Extraordinaire!
The main stadium for this year’s Beijing Olympics is, quite simply, stunning and is an amazing piece of architecture and design. If China has set out to impress the world with the 2008 Olympics, the stadium and its attendant buildings - the Aquatics Centre and the main stadium are just the right note to start the grand tune off. The Bird’s Nest and the Water Cube are breathtaking venues and provide the perfect stage for the Olympic drama to unfold. In essence, the Water Cube is a big, £50m steel and concrete box containing a huge swimming pool flanked by 17,000 seats. But what an extraordinary box it is. The pattern of the structure has been designed to hold huge pillows of ETFE, a lightweight substitute for glass, the same inflated hi-tech material used to clad the domes of Cornwall’s Eden Centre. The pattern is based on the natural formation of soap bubbles to give a random, organic appearance. The first view of the Bird’s Nest will be soon available and one can only imagine how grand it would look on the big night. Beijing is all dressed up for sure!
Speedo LZR: Seamless wonder streaming in the Cube!
The suit is seamless and reduces drag because of that very reason. Less drag in water means more speed. Drag only slows us down as it is nothing but friction in fluids. The swimsuit in fact has no seam as the costume’s material is welded together to give the effect of having no seams. This top notch suit will be put to the ultimate test in the grand Water Cube come the games and without doubt all eyes will be on Phelps who will also be sporting the LZR to claim another bunch of gold medals come two weeks time. Watch out for the Speedo LZR in the pool!
Flywire, Lone Star TKV: Nike vs ADIDAS... Battle of the brands!
It is no new news that Nike and Adidas are going to once again see who brings the most medals home once the extravaganza is done and dusted and they have gone all out for 4 years trying to make the best possible footwear for the all important event. The battle of the brands will be pretty important as it seems for now the Nike are the makers for most US teams while Adidas are supplying footwear to most of the other nations.
Down to the Wire Shoe designers craft their work around an idea, not a foot. Nike’s big brainstorm, Flywire, replaces all of a shoe’s heavy structural materials with support threads that resemble the steel cables on a suspension bridge. The HYPERDUNK (2) will be on Kobe’s foot as he tries bringing the Gold back home.
Adidas made American 400-meter gold medalist—and Texan—Jeremy Wariner a racing spike called LONE STAR (4). The spike pattern on the boot leans a runner to the left as on a track oval, there are no right turns, so the shoes provide leftward propulsion. The carbon nanotube sole is 20 times stronger than steel!
During a tae kwon do match, three of four judges must recognize a strike for an athlete to be awarded a point. One way to make a big impression: kick your opponent so hard the judges hear it. For its TKV boot, Nike tested 20 synthetic leathers and made a boot that gives that loud and clear ‘Smack’ so that it becomes pretty easy for all to know who scored with that kick.
KOGA MITAYA: A million dollar bike for that one priceless Olympic gold!
Koga Miyata has designed this million dollar bike for the Olympic qualifier from Holland, Theo Bos. The bicycle has been designed with a budget of million dollars and one would pretty much feel that it is not too modest. It is a seamless piece of technological marvel. It has no brakes and can cut through the air without drag, much like hot knife through butter. Apparently no ordinary man can handle this mean machine and that is understandable. Keep an eye out and see if Theo Bos does indeed bring home the gold to the Dutch.
Nike Aerographics: Olympic Expression
Nike is supplying USA Basketball’s team jerseys, which employ new moisture-and heat-venting technique called Aerographics to promote airflow over the skin. Using a silk-screen-like process, Nike chemically “”etches,” or dissolves, key “zones” of fabric. The result: culturally specific graphics, created by tattoo artists, which are also vents for air and sweat. NBA aims to bring back the gold in style!
Orange Lenses: For the glare of that Olympic Gold!
FOR FOUR years, their dreams of Olympic glory have dominated every waking minute.
And with only one shot at gold, Great Britain’s women’s hockey team is determined to keep their eye on the ball and leave nothing to chance. Overcoming the glare of the Beijing sun is vital if they are to triumph and they are pinning their hopes on tinted contact lenses to give them an edge. Determined to hold any advantage they can, the team knows that at this level, the battle is as much about technological innovation as human endeavor. Just over a third of the side will take to the pitch wearing orange-red lenses during their first match against Germany. They look like the devil with the lenses but who cares with what is at stake!
Precool Vest: Cool Mind+ Cool Body = Olympic Glory!
Nike’s new PRECOOL vest was designed in its Sports Research Lab, which determined that performance falls off drastically when core body temperature hits 103 degrees. The vest, a medley of metal paint, plastic and recycled sneakers, is designed to slow the rise of core body temperature before events in Beijing. It is filled with water then frozen overnight. The athletes will wear it for about an hour just prior to competition. That surely is one more area in which Nike seems to be winning the battle of the brands and this will hopefully help some of the athletes cool down their flaring tempers!
Hoyt: For the perfect Shot!
More than 75% of all Olympic archery medals since 1972 have been won by athletes using Hoyt bows. The “limbs” of the HOYT HELIX 900 CX are made of the same flexible, crushproof syntactic foam used by the U.S. Navy inside the dive planes of Los Angeles–class nuclear submarines. The Swiss-made MORINI CM 162 EI air pistol is used in the modern pentathlon and 10-meter air-pistol competitions; its electronic trigger is controlled by microchips. The makers will once again be hoping to continue their Olympic tradition of winning big on the grandest stage!
Nike BMX Bike: A grand debut at the games
In action sports, the mantra is “I want to be different, just like everybody else,” says John Martin, global creative director for Nike Action Sports. So Americans will help inaugurate the new Olympic discipline of BMX racing in NIKE ULTRALIGHT bike “leathers” that keep riders cool with high-tech “zoned venting,” but are styled for BMX culture. A grand expressive entrance for the modern sport on the grandest stage of them all.
There are 11 marvels of modern technology which will help the modern gladiators achieve their goals and fulfill their dreams on the world’s biggest, brightest and the most prestigious sporting event of them all. A moment when dreams culminate in to reality for some and come crashing down for others; on a stage where every minute fraction makes the difference between dreadful defeat and grand victory, these innovations of science aim to give the competitors the cutting edge. Sure, there will still be that 17-year old playing bare foot on soccer pitch and setting the world on fire. There hopefully will be another Jesse Owns and another Ali and such geniuses will find a way to beat the athletes who have the technological edge. But for the others who are not on that level of pure and raw sporting greatness, the winning percentage has just gone up with innovations like this. Keep you eyes out for the athletes and their gear and enjoy the spectacle as it arrives... May the best man-machine combination win!
