OLYMPIC TECHNOLOGY
September 14, 2000

Athletes competing in the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney, Australia, will have unprecedented access to technology to help them win. Tom Bearden examines some of these new tools.

July 24, 2000: Tiger Woods wins the British Open, Lance Armstrong wins the Tour De France. June 16, 2000: Coach Phil Jackson leads the Lakers to the NBA playoffs. Dec. 15, 1999: The congressional hearings on abuses at the top of the Olympic Games. Oct. 13, 1999: A tribute to basketball legend Wilt Chamberlain Sept. 27, 1999: A look at the stunning Ryder Cup win by the U.S. Golf Team July 12, 1999: The U.S. women's soccer team defeated China in the World Cup championship game. March 1, 1999: A report on Salt Lake City's Olympic bid. Feb. 19, 1999: Host cities and the scandal involving International Olympic Committee members Feb. 11, 1999: The 2002 Olympic Organizing Committee names a new chairman--and new rules.     A NewsHour Extra report for students on the summer Olympic games.	TOM BEARDEN: In 1996, the Olympics were dubbed the year of the woman. This year may turn out to be the year of technology. Science is allowing athletes to train more effectively, nourish their bodies better, and to benefit from better equipment.
	Faster swimsuits
	The most visible and controversial innovation is the new swimsuit. Until recently, smaller was better on the theory that such a suit caused the least drag or resistance through the water. Newly developed full body suits were delivered just before the U.S. Olympic trials after the international swimming authority authorized their use at this year's Olympics. And several new records were set. Manufacturers claim the suits allow athletes to swim anywhere from 1 to 3 percent faster, a phenomenal gain when victory is measured in fractions of seconds. Amy Van Dykeen won four gold medals in Atlanta, two by a combined total of. 0.03 of a second. She'll be wearing a full body suit in Sydney. AMY VAN DYKEN: That 3 percent is the difference is between probably first and fifth in my event. So it is a big difference. And it is definitely going to help out a lot of people. We have done a lot of testing on the suit, and it's definitely proven to be a lot faster. World records are being shattered and the only thing that I can attribute it to is not different training, it's the suit. TOM BEARDEN: Several manufacturers have been developing the suits for more than two years. At Speedo, the largest suit manufacturer, they scanned swimmer's body to develop a suit that would reduce drag as much as possible. Chief designer Stew Isaac said the result mirrors nature. STU ISAAC: It is modeled after the shark skin and has ridges and almost scales on the surface that creates vortices around the surface of the skin which reduces overall drag. Then it also has a compression effect which reduces the extra vibration of the muscles to help, to make sure you don't lose too much energy. And thirdly it is the engineering of the seams and the fit of the suit that makes it truly move with the body. TOM BEARDEN: Isaac says it was a long and expensive development process. STU ISAAC: What we do is we start in a wind tunnel with the base fabric and do some pure research with the different designs of the fabric. Then we went from there to a flume which is a, really a wind tunnel for water. There we tested swimmers and models and from there into the pool to see if they really can did swim faster. TOM BEARDEN: While many of the new suits may look the same, they are based on different concepts. Pier Sports is a small California swimwear company that has spent more than a million dollars developing their version. Instead of ridges and scales, they tried to make the suit as slick as possible. Matt Zimmer helped design the suit and tested it in real competition when he tried to make the Olympic team last month. MATT ZIMMER: The stripes that you see here, these are functional panels where we have actually turned the stripes of the fabric in a different direction to control the water around it. Any of the strokes has got a tremendous amount of muscle manipulation that's happening. If you can control the movement of that a little bit better and keep it more in a streamlined position, the flow of water over the human form is going to be a lot smoother, the coefficient or friction is going to be less, and theoretically you're going to go faster.
	Some skepticism
	TOM BEARDEN: While many swimmers began to jump on the bandwagon at the U.S. Olympic trials, some are skeptical. Ashley Tappan qualified for the Olympics in the 400 meter freestyle relay wearing a shorter version of the suit. ASHLEY TAPPAN: The whole hype is really about the full body suit. And in testing that I have done in those have proven that the full body suit is not, does not help me. It actually just drags me down. So, for somebody else, it might work great. For me, it doesn't work. SPORTSCASTER: A new American word for Ed Moses. TOM BEARDEN: In fact, Ed Moses broke the American record for the 100 meter breast stroke without wearing a full body suit. ED MOSES: Well, if you looked at the field of 100 breast trials, I think I was the only one that didn't wear it and I'm the one that came out on top. I don't say the suit is going to make a difference, I think it is the mental picture. If you think the suit is going to help you, sure, great, if you have that thing on, it might help you. But basically gain it is the hard work and knowing that no matter what you are wearing, if you swim the race that you have trained for, you're going to do well. RICHARD QUICK: 15 seconds. Rock'n roll. TOM BEARDEN: Richard Quick, the head coach of the U.S. Women's team thinks the suit could help bring down world records at these games. But he says his athletes are still learning how to use them to their best advantage. RICHARD QUICK: Some people were warming up in the suit and we've since found out that the suit gets a little bit heavier when it gets wet. It is faster when it is dry, and when you are moving through the water very fast, I mean, it may sound funny to you, but the suit stays drier when you are going fast. But if you are doing a slow warm up and that kind of thing and hanging out in the water, then it gathers water, and it gets a little heavier. So we're learning how to use the suit. But I do think it is going to cause the Olympic games to be a good deal faster. PROFESSOR JOEL STAGER, Indiana University: We'll talk a little more of science. TOM BEARDEN: But Professor Joel Stager said he can prove the suits don't work for anybody. He's the head of the human performance lab at the University of Indiana. Using data from all the swimming trials since 1968, without taking into account the kind of swim suit worn at the time, Stager constructed a mathematical model to predict swimmers' finishing times this year. PROFESSOR JOEL STAGER: The conclusions basically suggest -- what was it William Shakespeare that said "much ado about nothing"? So basically the analysis shows that out of the 26 events that we forecasted, 24 out of 26 performed exactly as they should have. TOM BEARDEN: Regardless of suits? PROFESSOR JOEL STAGER: Regardless of whether or not the athletes were wearing suits. TOM BEARDEN: But Speedo's Isaac said the proof is in the pool. STU ISAAC: I think would you have a tough time convincing many of the swimmers of that. We've had 12 world records broken just in the last four months leading up to the Olympics, which is incredible in the pre-Olympic period. TOM BEARDEN: But even Isaac is cautious about making too many claims. STU ISAAC: The suit is not a magic bullet. The people that put the work in and get the coaching and really, really do what they are supposed to in training are still going to be the ones that win. TOM BEARDEN: The athletes aren't the only ones concerned with winning medals. So are the manufacturers. Steve Furniss, a 1976 bronze medal winners is one of the co-founders of TYR Sports. TOM BEARDEN: How important is it to your company that your suits do well in the Olympics? STEVE FURNISS, TYR Sports: Very. That's what we have made in the whole basis of sport promotion, athletes going fast in your equipment is the best form of endorsement a company can have. Obviously there are commercial arraignments with some of the athletes, but their performances and their exposure in those suits will make a big difference.
	Technology for sprinters, rowers and boxers
	TOM BEARDEN: New suits may also be a factor in track and field. Nike has created outer wear for sprinters called the swift suit. It is a full body suit with a hood designed to not only reduce wind resistance but also to keep runners warm. Eddie Harber is Nike's chief designer. EDDY HARBER, Nike, Inc.: The key area of innovation on the swift suit is the fact that we have different textures on different body parts. So each texture has been applied to the different body part to match the velocity of that body segment so the head and the torso are moving at 27 miles an hour; the hands and the feet are moving at 55 miles an hour. And the same way you can see this here, it functions on the same principle that a golf ball functions on. As the air flows over this surface, it is a layer of air closest to the arms is broken up and becomes turbulent. And the next layer on top of that moves very fast over that layer. TOM BEARDEN: Marion Jones, who is going for an unprecedented five gold medals in women's track and field, believes the suit will help her in the chilly conditions of Australia. MARION JONES: Everybody is a bit concerned about the weather in Sydney. And I'm no different. Obviously, as a sprinter, I would love it to be as warm as possible. But the fact that it will be in Sydney in September, pretty much guarantees that it won't be that warm, it will be about 68 degrees. And what really appealed to me in the beginning of this whole process was the fact this suit is designed for that type of temperature. TOM BEARDEN: Technology is not only helping athletes in competition, but in training as well. The U.S. rowing team put sensors on each oar so coaches could see effort exerted and how much effort was on getting the oars in and out of the water. Even boxing is seeing some innovation. TOM CONRAD: We display the information on the screen. TOM BEARDEN: In the United States Olympic complex in Colorado springs, engineer Tom Conrad demonstrated an instrumented punching bag. TOM CONRAD: The graph shows us the actual contact on the bag, force versus time. The graph on the bottom shows us a history of the punches, so we can look at fatigue factors to see if the boxer can punch as hard at the end of the bout as the beginning of the bout. It gives us 'em a very quantified measurement of how well they are doing. They can try different techniques, different punching styles. They can also determine the boxer's optimum punch. TOM BEARDEN: Is the real time feed back important? TOM CONRAD: Extremely. People don't remember what they did a week ago. If we collect data, post-process -and give them a stack of a printout a week later they have no idea what to do with it. If we can give them immediate feedback, they know what they have done and the coach can immediately make corrections. TOM BEARDEN: Conrad has also developed a laser and computer system designed to help target shooters aim and squeeze the trigger more smoothly. TOM CONRAD: The technology does not really improve what the athlete is capable of. It simply let's them get to a high level a little sooner, and perhaps stay there a little longer. The effect is small. But in many cases, with the margins of victory being so small, the resulting difference can be quite large. TOM BEARDEN: As athletes gear up for the games, many of them will be using the best science they can find to help them win the gold.