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The US Swim Team's Secret Weapon, Science
Hugh Pickens writes "When American Swimmer Margaret Hoelzer goes for the gold tonight in the 200-meter backstroke, part of her success will be due to a new system developed by Tim Wei, a mechanical and aerospace engineer at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, that uses fluid dynamics to study human movement allowing scientists and coaches to study how fast and hard a swimmer pushes the water as he moves through it. 'Wei uses a tracking technique called digital particle image velocimetry, commonly used to measure the flow of small particles around an airplane or small fish or crustaceans in water.' Wei filtered compressed air in a scuba tank through a porous hose to create bubbles about a tenth of a millimeter in diameter. When an athlete swims through a sheet of bubbles that rises from the pool floor, a camera captures their flow around the swimmer's body and the images show the direction and speed of the bubbles, which Wei then translates into the swimmer's thrust using software that he wrote."
"When American Swimmer Margaret Hoelzer goes for the gold tonight in the 200-meter backstroke..."
"...to study how fast and hard a swimmer pushes the water as he moves through it."
I'm Margaret Hoelzer, you insensitive sexist swimsuit-designing clods!
After doing something for years and years, changing the way you do something, whether it's a swimming stroke or tennis or golf swing, isn't done instantly. It takes quite a bit of concerted effort and attention to change it. I'd be really interested in how and what the coach does to get the swimmers to change.
I've witnessed swimmers in college that have bad habits that they gained as youth and they can't seam to shake them.
So if I'm reading this correctly, they essentially created a measuring system for how much power a swimmer is generating in the water, serving the equivalent purpose of the power meter that is commonly used by cyclists?
It's not just better technique and the new suit. The pool is also designed to reduce waves to help lower times. A lot of the wave dissipation features described in the article have been used in tow tanks (where we tow model ships to measure their drag) for decades.
In this Washington Post article
First port got modded troll. I think, if the first few posts get modded down, they disappear from view. The purpose of this is to remove first-spammers. And ya, my reply seems kinda dumb outa context :P.
O well, this will get modded off topic and we can move on with our lives.
The US Swim Team's Secret Weapon: Michael Phelps.
Though that's not very secret. Sort of like Victoria's.
On a shaft, naturally.
I dunno - if you've seen some of the female swimmers, then it's not hard to make that mistake.
..........FULL STOP.
I struggled with the Google translation of that article, here is an article on the same guy that covers the same ground for English speakers.
Oh no... it's the future.
I think you mean lasers.
Screw science. Their weapon is Intelligent Design!
According to the BBC, Phelps's armoury of secret weapons includes ... Hot Grits! (no, really):
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/asia-pacific/7562840.stm
Oh, and eggs. Lots of eggs. But don't try this at home:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/2008/aug/15/foodanddrink.michaelphelps
I caught that too, and wondered if they had just inadvertently disclosed a cheating scandal at the Olympics.
Everyone is faster in the pool. I watched a race where even the 5th place finisher came in above the old world record time.
Just read this: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/08/12/sports/olympics/12records.html?_r=1&oref=slogin
Over above whatever the swimmers are using, the pool itself is engineered to create faster times. Everything from the lane dividers, to the wall of the pool, to the extra meter of depth are meant to dissipate turbulence in the water and increase times.
I went to China for a visit this summer and there was this interesting Chinese Olympic history series playing on the TV.
Apparently after the Atlanta Olympics in 1996, the Chinese considered it to be a disappointing showing because many Chinese favorites did not get a Gold medal. So the Chinese government got some experts together and they came up with a new plan for how the athletes are trained in China. They first listed several sports the Chinese were good at traditionally, like table tennis, badminton, gymnastics, etc. They then established two research facilities for each sport. The purpose of these research facilities were to find more effective methods to train an athlete.
For example, the rowing team was sent to go train in Tibet because there it is at a high altitude. At high altitudes there is less oxygen so it trains the athletes' body to use oxygen more effectively.
While us nerds can't exactly participate in sports competitively we definitely have the skills to improve training and playing methods of a sport =D
And his body. He's like a dolphin. His proportions are perfect for swimming. And then he's double jointed in his ankles, elbows, shoulders AND chest. His armspan is 10cm greater than his height. All he needs now are gills.
I thought our *three* weapons were fear, surprise, and ruthless efficiency...and an almost fanatical devotion to the Pope.... Our *four*...no... *Amongst* our weapons.... Amongst our weaponry...are such elements as fear, surprise.... I'll post again.
That's why you can only dolphin kick for 15 meters now.
In 25 yard pools during backstroke it was easier to dolphin kick and swim 8 yards with the last 2 dedicated to the turn.
As for swimming underwater: Most sprinters in the 50m freestyle don't take a breath during the race. In short course (25m pool) 50m races I maybe took one breath on the way back - depends how much air I released during my turn. If I swam at the right speed I could get about 75m before needing to come up and take another breath. But this was far from racing speed.
By doping, which is "bad", the athlete is increasing his ability to overcome the environment.
By using technology we're mitigating the effects of the environment on their performance. That's good?
The spirit of the Olympics is long gone.
No sig for you!!
No, it's not just you.
The original slashdot page layout and comment threading system was junk. It was obviously "designed" at 3:00 in the morning after a mushroom and hash party in Taco's dorm room. They would fix it, but nobody at slashdot understands how it works.
The recent v2.0 slashdot page layout and comment threading system is also junk. It was obviously "designed" at 3:00 in the afternoon after a martini and coke lunch at an expensive steak house. They would fix it, but nobody at slashdot understands that it sucks.
It is engineered to reduce turbulence but no more than other top-level pools around the world. Pools with 10 lanes, slop gutters to eat waves, and greater then 2m depth are not unheard of. Besides, while plenty of world records are being beaten at these Olympics, plenty were also beaten before the Olympics...in the last year or two many world records have gone down at other events. Before each race NBC puts up a listing of the current world record for that event. Take a look--many are dated 2006 or 2007; some date back a few more years, but none are very old.
We happen to be in a period of dramatic change in swimming right now, and there are probably a number of reasons. If you want to point to just one, it is probably that there is a lot more money in the sport now. So Michael Phelps could afford, through endorsements and grants, to train at a full-time professional level since he was an early teen. This has huge implications for his technique, fitness, health, and mental toughness for competition.
Build a man a fire, he's warm for one night. Set him on fire, and he's warm for the rest of his life.
Perhaps there's a coaching aspect to it but I think if someone stays at the top of their field for a long time, it says a lot about that person's abilities. I wonder if it's simply that the best swimmers or the best golfers or the best athletes do change, and are simply very good at shaking old habits and adapting to improved techniques when they become apparent. If they don't, they're not the best any more, and are often quickly forgotten as someone else comes through and pushes them out of the way.
And how much would this technology cost in Canadian dollars?
Cause we're in the market right now.
Go climb into a pool yourself and swim a few. And don't ask me to haul you out when you're drowning and can't make it to the side. Swimming is one of the most demanding sports there is. Besides, they do other things, like lift weights and sprint on dry land.
Do away with our corrupt tax code. Support the Fair Tax
...being chased. By sharks. With lasers.
The high diving competitions are the result of releasing the shark and playing the video of the swimmer leaping out of the pool backwards.
Have gnu, will travel.
Allow me to introduce you to the "Parent" button. It's what I use in order to bring up the post that someone replied to.
Everyone is faster in the pool.
Yes, they probably didn't level it right and they are all getting a downhill advantage.
And his body. He's like a dolphin. His proportions are perfect for swimming. And then he's double jointed in his ankles, elbows, shoulders AND chest. His armspan is 10cm greater than his height. All he needs now are gills.
Dolphins have gills?
Science.
It works, bitches.
Leben Sie jetzt die Fragen.
I watched way more swimming than I should probably admit this Olympics. But I noted that all Americans performing used same tactic. Basically they swam not as fast as they could until their last pool length, where they really pushed their foot on the gas sort of. I think they do this because going fast like that works up oxygen deficit and you end up out of breath. If they swam this fast in the beginning they wouldn't keep it up, and they would even slow down. But by doing it on their last stretch they end up out of breath when they no longer need to swim since the race is over. It's a tactic that seems to have paid off very well, race after race.
Our digestive system isn't 100% efficient. He could be taking in 12,000 calories, using 8,000, and shitting 4,000. No one ever talks about how much he shits between swims.
Don't we all need girls? Oh, gills you mean....