Science, not muscle, driving many Olympic wins

[jsr]

http://bigstory.ap.org/article/science-not-muscle-driving-many-olympic-wins

Science, not muscle, driving many Olympic wins
By ANGELA CHARLTON
Feb. 13, 2014 11:58 AM EST

KRASNAYA POLYANA, Russia (AP) — Nineteen-year-old Slovakian luger Josef Petrulak competed in the Sochi Olympics in a 22-year-old sled. That's right: His sled is three years older than he is. His German rivals get a new sled every year, designed by BMW and calibrated to whoosh faster, smoother and smarter every season.

It's not hard to guess who won the doubles gold at the Winter Games this week.

Much as we'd like to, no one today can pretend that the Olympics — or any sport, for that matter — is just about exceptional physical ability anymore. It's about the marriage between exceptional humans and exceptional technology, a union in which technology is increasingly the breadwinner.

Every advance in the ever-accelerating juggernaut of sports technology threatens to widen the divide between Olympic haves and have-nots. Well-sponsored teams and rich governments pay top-end scientists and engineers to shape their skis, perfect their skates, tighten their suits, measure their gravitational pull. That brings home medals, which in turn brings home new attention, new sponsors, new money to invest in the next race.


The doubles team of Tobias Arlt and Tobias Wendl of Germany speed down the track in their final run during the men's doubles luge at the 2014 Winter Olympics, Wednesday, Feb. 12, 2014, in Krasnaya Polyana, Russia.

[Scuba]

1. No science, Jesus. The winners are those who pray most feverishly.

[quadrature]

2. Coaching. A good coach knows the game...

A great coach knows the refs.

[Earth_First]

5. The results of many of these contests are time-based...

What advantage would a 'great coach knowing the refs' be?

[quadrature]

6. So, do you trust the Russian-operated timing devices?

just curious.

[customerserviceguy]

3. This is an inevitability with the Winter Olympics

Since every event involves sliding on snow or ice, equipment is a necessity. Therefore, science will always be able to produce better equipment for those who can afford it and are allowed to use it.

It's one of the reasons that I find the Summer Games so much more entertaining than the Winter Games. I suppose that with ice skating, one can only do so much to improve a skate blade, and it really is the skill of the performer that determines the outcome, which is why the non-racing ice skating events are pretty much the only ones I'll watch.

[Dopers_Greed]

4. If science was so right

Then we wouldn't have winter olympics because of global warming!!!