Timekeeping an Olympian task at the Beijing Games

Juniper Foo | Jul 31, 2008

Even as we countdown to the Beijing Olympics, did you know that when the first games began, little attention was paid to timing the speed of winners? There were no stopwatches then, or photographic equipment to document world records being broken to the world watching. In fact, the stopwatch came into use only 100 years ago at the 1896 Athens Olympic Games to determine winners' times. How Stuff Works has a great compilation of Olympic Timing History. Today, advanced timing technology ensures that Olympic athletes can win or lose by a margin of only 1,000th of a second. That's 40 times faster than the blink of an eye.

At present, only two companies are qualified to keep time for the Games: Seiko and Bond's favorite watch company, Omega. The latter made Olympic history when it became the first Official Timekeeper of the Olympic Games in the 1932 Los Angeles Games. That same year, the Kirby camera or photofinish camera was introduced which not only photographed the athletes at the finish line, this was documented with a time stamp to each shot.

With accuracy crucial to the smooth running of the Beijing Olympic Games this August, Omega, again in the coveted role of Official Timekeeper, has upped the stakes. It will debut a digital camera that snaps 3,000 photos per second, thrice the speed of the previous. Timing and scoring gear, weighing the equivalent of a Boeing 747, have been installed in the stadiums and sports sites. Around 450 technicians and engineers, plus 1,000 volunteers, will be onsite to ensure the clocks keep ticking on time. More importantly at the Beijing games, GPS will for the first time be fitted in race boats to give more real-time information. And, of course, just to be on the safe site, the humble stopwatch will be on hand in case all else fails.

Via Discovery News | Picture credit: Omega

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