There is no doubt that the Olympics are a worldwide phenomenon that captivates audiences every two years. Recently, London hosted the 2012 Summer Games and Sochi is set to host the 2014 Winter games. The following articles outline a few interesting points about how technology was a major part of the Olympics in London. What are some other aspects of the games that technology effected? Was it a positive or negative effect? If you could stir a technology revolution at the Olympics, what would be your targeted area?
http://www.computerweekly.com/news/2240161354/The-Olympics-in-technology-stats
http://www.itproportal.com/2012/07/24/the-tech-behind-the-2012-olympic-games/
http://news.yahoo.com/how-new-technology-has-transformed-the-olympics.html
One of the most memorable things regarding technology I remember about the Olympics is the live missiles they had on standby in the case of a terrorist attack. Being both good and bad. Bad in the ways that its pathetic that we would ever need missiles to "guard" athletic competitions, but its good that they were taking the precaution just to be safe. As tensions rise throughout the world, it will be interesting to see how the security of the games evolve over the next few decades.
ReplyDeleteIf I could start up a technological revolution at the Olympics, well, personally I don't really see the need to. But after reading some of what problems people had with the way media was broadcasting the events, I believe it would be a fairly good idea to create some sort of service (that would receive significant use) that offers live and reliable coverage of the Olympics.
As a patriot I feel it is my duty to begin this post with a chant, USA! USA! USA!
ReplyDeleteOK, now that I have performed my civic duty, we may begin. Other aspects of the games that technology has affected could include more advanced heating systems in pools for water events, different materials for tracks that are more like rubber and less like gravel, or advanced mats to absorb impact for sports like wrestling, taekwondo, or judo. These are all positive effects unless you want everything to be unpleasant for the athletes (although it would be interesting to see who could swim fastest in freezing cold water). If I could stir a technology revolution at the Olympics, it would be technology to move the Olympic games to the moon. To determine the best athletes on Earth, it only makes sense to move the competition off of the planet. Adaptability is an underrated feat at the Olympic games. If not that, maybe put sensors in runners' shoes or something to determine how hard people are pushing off of the ground which each step. It doesn't serve to much of a purpose, but it would be interesting to see. Maybe it could help with training? I don't know.
USA USA USA USA
As technology advances, it is easy to say it will only keep improving when it comes to the Olympics. Technology is effecting many parts of the games from robotic cameras to sports gear technology will only further the games. A negative aspect of technology would be the coverage of the Olympics. If you are watching the Olympics from home you probably have noticed that there is a delay in prime-time coverage. If I could stir a technology revolution in the Olympics, I would try to create a type of service with live coverage of the Olympics, that didn't delay time. I would have less ads then the one on NBC's app, so therefore there would be less freezing of the stream. Overall, I don't think there would be a significant reason to start up a technological revolution. It's pretty obvious that it's all ready started.
ReplyDeleteI feel as if technology has ruined the Olympics. The Olympics are supposed to be a time of unity and good competition between the nations of our world. Back in the early 1900s the Olympics were viewed as solely an athletic competition in seeing which country had the most prestigious team/athlete in each event. In this day and age, the Olympics are still very big but they aren't what they used to be. Everyone has bad things to say about other countries' athletes rather than focusing on the actual competition. Michael Phelps was caught with marijuana and that was undoubtedly the biggest story of the next summer games which is ridiculous to me. You have thousands of the greatest athletes in the world and the media is too worried about one party that one athlete attended. If I could stir a technology revolution, I would remove advertisements and media from the Olympics so that people could go back to focusing on the uniting of nations and the incredible competitions that are put on display.
ReplyDeleteSome of the aspects that I found to be really interesting while reading the three articles were how in just a matter of four years from the Beijing Olympics to the London 2012 Olympics there was a massive increase of viewers due to the advancements of IPhones and I Pad's. More people were able to view their favorite event through live streaming just about anywhere. Also, another aspect that I found to be very interesting was the streamlined threads gear that could shave off 0.23 seconds off anyone's 100 meter dash race. This apparel has been in production for 12 years and was finally put into effect to help out Olympic athletes. Both of these aspects are very positive, however, there was some issues and nuisance with the broadcasting of the Olympics via your smartphone, etc. Other than that I think that these technology advancements were for the better.
ReplyDeleteIf I could stir a revolution, I would target how accurate race timings would be for both swimming and running. I think that accurate stop clocks will benefit everyone so that there is never a faulty clock and that every athlete participating gets their accurate time and place.
Some aspects of the Olympic games that was affected was how to determine the winner of the swimming events. Usually for us spectators sitting at home on our couch it can be difficult to say which swimmer won if they were head to head once they finished the race. There has been technology created called contact pads which records the swimmer's time once they hit the pad with 6.6 pounds of pressure. This positive effect has helped determine the winner by sometimes 0.01 of a second which is how Michael Phelps won gold in Beijing back in 2008.
ReplyDeleteIf I had the opportunity to stir a technology revolution I would make sure there are apps that allow people all over the world to have constant access to live streaming of the games whether it be on their phones or tablets. This seemed to be the major concern last summer during the 2012 London Olympics with people not being able to be constantly updated on what was happening.
Technology has impacted the Olympic games greatly. The one that comes to mind for me the most is the broadcasting of the games. The broadcasting of the Olympics use to be right next to awful as I read. Also for the swimmers at the Olympics, the technology of the touch sensor pads that are used to clock in the final times per event have a massive impact on the competitors. Were talking about one hundredths of a second sometimes between the final racers with out that technology gold medals could of been handed out to athletes who did not deserve them! I think that technology has had quite a positive affect on the Olympic games. Although it would be fun to watch the track runners run on what the 1940 track runners ran on. I would have to agree with Allan's comment about sending them to the moon. I could not even imagine how cool that would be to watch the Olympic athletes compete with less gravity! To close this topic up I just want to say that I hope the Men's US hockey team brings home the gold this year.
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