SPORT REPORT
PERFECT TIMING
OMEGA is proud to be the official timekeeper of the Olympic Games Tokyo 2020.
IT MAY BE A LITTLE LATER than planned, but this year, the Land of the Rising Sun will finally become OMEGA’s own land of Recording Dreams. For the 29th time in history, the brand will fulfil its role as the Official Timekeeper of the Olympic Games, bringing almost 90 years of experience to Tokyo 2020. A total of 339 events in 33 sports will be competed in Japan, and OMEGA will be measuring every second of action. This includes brand new sports such as karate, sport climbing, surfing, baseball/softball and skateboarding, giving the Swiss watchmaker more competitions to record than ever before. Of course, the greatest focus will be on the determined athletes aiming for gold. Each of them has dedicated years, months and hours to reach this moment. Their dreams depend on those final results, making OMEGA’s precision and equipment a vital part of every event. Thankfully, OMEGA has experience. In fact, the brand has been at the Olympic Games for nearly every edition since 1932. During those years, the brand has evolved, developed and implemented many of the most famous timekeeping technologies in sport. Now, at Tokyo 2020, OMEGA’s expertise will reach a new peak. As well as providing 400 tonnes of its most trusted and state-of-the-art equipment, the brand will also continue a truly exciting era of real-time data measurement. Every event has its own timekeeping systems and sport-specific technology. These are just some of the familiar pieces of OMEGA equipment you are likely to see. THE ELECTRONIC STARTING PISTOL The problem with traditional pistols, is that sound travels slower than light, meaning that the athletes in the furthest lanes would hear the start later than everyone else, while closer athletes heard it first. Today, OMEGA’s solution is an electronic pistol that is connected to speakers positioned behind each racer. When the trigger is pressed, a sound is ‘played’, a light flash is emitted and a start pulse is given to the timing device. This system is the fairest way to give every athlete an equal start.
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ATHLETICS STARTING BLOCKS As well as having integrated speakers, the starting blocks in athletics are also enhanced with built-in sensors that measure an athlete’s force against the footrest 4,000 times per second. The detection system instantly sends the force measurements to an on-site computer so that the starter can visually see any false start. The rules of World Athletics fix the minimum reaction time 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.
It’s a perfect way for athletes and spectators to instantly see the outcome of a race.
SCAN’O’VISION MYRIA The Scan’O’Vision MYRIA is the most advanced photofinish camera in OMEGA’s history. Placed on the finish lines of sprints, hurdles and other races, it is able to record up to 10,000 digital images per second, producing a composite photo that enables judges to determine the official rankings and times of each event. The images from the photofinish camera are now a famous sight at the Olympic Games, and prove just how close some races can really be.
QUANTUM TIMER Mechanical stopwatches are a thing of the past. Today, OMEGA counts the seconds on its Quantum Timer, with an enhanced resolution of one millionth of a second. Driven by a micro crystal component imbedded in the timer, the resolution is 100 times greater than previous devices and, with a maximum variation of only one second out of every ten million seconds, it is five times more accurate.
PHOTOCELL TECHNOLOGY Remember the traditional tape that was stretched across the finish line of races? Since 1948, this has been replaced by photocell technology, which emits beams of light instead. As soon as the winning athlete crosses those beams, their winning time is instantly recorded. OMEGA now uses four photocells on the finish line, all integrated into one unit, allowing more body patterns to be detected. While this gives OMEGA an immediate finishing time, the official time is always taken from the photofinish camera.
HI-RESOLUTION SCOREBOARDS OMEGA’s hi-resolution scoreboards display not only text and live information, but also animations, athlete pictures and visual imagery. Using modern effects, winners’ names, results and their nation’s flag are boldly displayed, adding to the drama, thrill and excitement of each event.
SWIMMING LIGHT SHOW An innovative light system called the Swimming Light Show features lights mounted on the starting blocks at the end of the pool. When a race is over, a single large dot indicates the athlete that came first, two medium-sized dots show who came second, and three smaller dots of light confirm the third place finisher.
SWIMMING TOUCHPADS At the end of a swimming race, the famous touchpads positioned at both ends of the pool allow swimmers to ‘stop the clock’ by exerting a pressure of between 1.5 and 2.5 kg. Because of these touchpads, swimming has long been the only sport in which competitors can stop their own running time. It’s the most precise way to measure time in this challenging sport and OMEGA was responsible for first introducing the technology at the Olympic Games in 1968.
