By Robert Ebisch Olympic It's All In The Watch Reprinted with permission from Dec 1995"Sky Magazine". Copyright 1995 Pace Timing Communications 1nc. How would you like to lose the gold by one-thousandth of a second? merican Tim McKee had the misfortune to swim for AOlympic gold just as a quantum leap in Olympic timing technology overshot the bounds of common sense. When McKee competed in the 400-meter individual medley in Munich in 1972, Olympic swimming had just converted from stopwatches to the use of electronic touchpads. Official times were still sliced no finer than a hundredth of a second, but the touchpads could differentiate a winner to the thousandth of a second. McKee tied for first place with Gunnar Larsson of Sweden to the hundredth of a second, but lost by two thousandths of a second. A time so fine, it turned out, that it could have been affected by a coat of paint, given disparities of Olympics in 1984-they were both Georgetown University. "All it millimeters common in even the given the gold medal. And they never would have told us is that maybe best competitive pools. did find out who won to the somebody's lane is a thousandth The next time two Olympic thousandth. of a second shorter. A blink of an swimmers tied to the hundredth- "It wouldn't have said who really eye is 25 hundredths of a second. Americans Nancy Hogshead and won," says Hogshead, now a A hundredth is a tiny amount of Carrie Steinseifer in the 100-meter secondyear law student at time, and a thousandth is a sliver freestyle at the Los Angeles on a sliver." Lynx System Developers, Inc. 175 N New Boston Street, Woburn, MA 01801. Tel:1 (800) 989 LYNX OLYMPIC WATCH Sports timing has come a long, Camera alignment is critical and Federation (IAAF) World slow crawl from the stopwatches of accurate to the thousandth of a Championships in Tokyo just the first modern Olympics in 1896 second, insist designers of the digital weeks after the IAAF had OK'd to the microprocessors of the finish systems. its use in place of photo-finish Centennial Olympic Games film cameras. Dennis Mitchell, scheduled for Atlanta next cceptance of new technologies who took a bronze medal in the communicates the drama and data to comes slowly, points out Doug 100-meter race and a gold in the 4 a waiting world at unprecedented ADeAngelis, president of Lynx x 100-meter relay in '92, was in speeds and volumes. Nowhere is the System Developers Inc., which Tokyo for the digital milestone in drama more intense and the data virtually owns the college and high 1991 with a third place in the 100 more dramatic than in the meters. Olympics' timed events, where the "That was actually a great infinitesimal becomes astronomical meet for the introduction of in importance. digital photo finish," he says. Swatch Timing, the Atlanta "Five us of were within one Games' official timer, will have hundredth of a second. About hundreds of timing devices in 30 seconds after we crossed action. Prominent among these is the line, they flashed the Swatch Timing's "Scan-OVision" photo finish up on the big technology, based on a digital screen with the vertical photo-finish camera that aims a cursor, and you could see who vertical hairline slit along the finish won. It's very precise, clear line and scans that slit enough that you can see a electronically 1,000 or 2,000 times nose or somebody's finger per second, depending on the event. sticking out." The digital picture passes instantly Automatic timing is a lot onto a computer hard disk and is older than one might think. displayed on a video screen, where The first report of electrical another hairline, a vertical cursor, race timing was in England in can define the leading edge of each 1892. Electrical timing was contestant's torso to the thousandth used at the Stockholm of a second. Olympics in 1912 to help Just two Olympic games ago, race separate winners in close finishes were still done on film that races. The starter's pistol had to be developed and examined triggered a clock at the finish over the virtual eternity of five line, where the clock was minutes. Now digital technology stopped at the end of the race allows the finish picture, with its when the chief judge closed a cursors and times, to be produced circuit and triggered a camera. 30 seconds after the race ends. The 1932 Olympics used the Even today, however, not everyone school market in the United States "Kirby camera," which is comfortable with the growing for digital photo-finish systems. photographed the finish line and wonders of timing technology. "When we first started," he says, simultaneously photographed a Running tracks may be designed "and two guys would get the same tuning fork chronometer. The first with much greater accuracy than time to the hundredth of a second, Olympic "slit camera," the swimming pools, but even here, the we'd have one of them--usually the predecessor of the digital camera, accuracy of electronic timing may losing one--come over and want to went to work in 1948, and in exceed the accuracy with which it see the picture. They'd think, 'There's 1952, a clock was added that put can be reliably used, suggests Dr. a good chance these guys made this times on the slit camera finish William J. Mallon, a Durham, North crap up,' because cameras just aren't photos to the hundredth of a Carolina, physician and leading good enough to see this kind of second. Not until 1972, however, Olympic historian. "About 10 years thing." did the Olympics officially record ago, I actually questioned whether Seiko, official timer for four times in hundredths rather than they should continue to break those Olympics since 1964 and introduced tenths. For that reason, and ties based on the photo," he says. "If of digital photo finish to the Summer because races were routinely the camera is turned a tenth of a Games in Barcelona in 1992, first started, stopped, and timed degree off exact, it can mean used the technology at the 1991 electronically, 1972 is often cited thousandths of a second." International Amateur Athletics Lynx System Developers, Inc. 175 N New Boston Street, Woburn, MA 01801. Tel:1 (800) 989 LYNX OLYMPIC WATCH as the first year of fully automatic new technologies, the silent gun will naked eye. When you win a gold timing. take a while to get its foot in the medal by a hundredth of a second, But is it fully automatic even now? Olympic door, says Mitchell, who you're happy you didn't leave it to Race judges still have to watch the competed in Goteborg. A regular human error." cursor move on the video screen to sounding gun has a shocking effect," he says. "It makes you cringe and decide who wins, places, and Robert Ebisch is co-author of the shows. Olympic timing futurists jump. The automated gun is more relaxing, soothing. When you've Insiders' Guide to Greater look toward the transponders used Denver. in auto and horse racing that-- been raised your whole life on mounted on animal or vehicle--are somebody shooting a .38 in your ear read like a supermarket bar code as and then you hear this little soft they pass the finish line to give not sound like a video game, it requires a just the time but the identity of each very different kind of concentration." passing contestant. Reportedly False starts are another potential tested on racers in Japan, the area of full automation that still devices are still too unwieldy to depends on human judges, despite the ability of computers to read disparities between signals from starting guns and foot pressure on starting blocks, or between the time one relay swimmer hits the touchpad and the next leaves the starting platform. "We did a new system last year to make an automatic recall on false starts," says Gibbons, "but the rules in track and field say the only person who has the right to recall is the starter. So this is absolutely new, but we can't use it." False-start technology, however, has become an important means of Olympic training, however. One function of the QuickStart system, inspire anything but outrage in designed by Colorado Time Systems runners asked to wear them. and used at the U.S. Olympic "That's the type of thing being Training Center in Colorado Springs, looked at for the future," says Mike is to help relay swimmers practice Gibbons, resident engineer in shaving the time between lengths--as Atlanta for Swatch Timing. "It Tracy Caulkins did in 1984, when could be used in marathons, where she helped the U.S. team to a gold in you have a whole bunch of people the 4 x 100 medley relay by leaving coming across the line." her block a hundredth of a second The "silent" starting gun is another before the previous swimmer hit the pending technology, in which the touchpad (swimmers are given two actual starting gun is electronic and hundredths of a second leeway in the only noise is the amplified leaving the starting block). sound at each competitor's starting "She was a hundredth of a second block. At present, competitors hear from being disqualified," says fellow both the gun itself and its amplified swimmer Hogshead. "That is what signal, which some say can be we call a perfect start, and everybody confusing.