Omega at the finish line

When it involves sports activities timekeeping, Omega is at all times on the ball. An Olympic occasion is crammed with information – the most blatant being the time through which a race is received. But as sensors proliferate, get smaller and in the case of some sports activities may even be hooked up to the athletes themselves, the quantity of knowledge generated has grown. Alain Zobrist, CEO of Omega Timing talks about how the nature of time-keeping has modified at the Olympics. “We’ve got motion sensors and positioning systems. We’re using computer vision and artificial intelligence in these systems already but for sure this is going to be developed in the future. Where we will end up in a couple of years is very difficult to say, but without a doubt we will certainly make a couple of steps forward for the Winter Olympics in Beijing, a little more than six months from now, and the Olympic Games in three years in Paris.”

Time to coach smarter

While the focus has at all times been on ‘the final result’ — the information that could be damaged, the hole between first and second place and the rising exactitude (at the moment measurable right down to the millionth of a second) of an athlete’s efficiency — Zobrist explains how information is altering the approach athletes will practice. “So far, we had a very good understanding of what happens at any start of the race as well as any finish of the race, and now with our new sensor technologies we’ll be able to understand also what happens in between, during the entire performance of an athlete.” Consequently, we’ll be capable to see how athletes bought to their outcomes. Where did they lose time, the place did they acquire time? Where did they lose or acquire factors?” This information, which can enable athletes and their groups to coach smarter, can even be utilized by broadcasters of their on-screen graphics.

Biel-based Omega has introduced innovation to every new Games since its affiliation started in 1932. That contains units that ‘film time’ like the Magic Eye (or the Racend Omega Timer), which has seen its photoelectric cell rely enhance to 4 for the 2016 video games. This yr, the pleasure is round Speed Climbing, one among 5 new sports activities being launched at Tokyo. About it, Zobrist says, “It’s going to be the second sport now after swimming, where the athletes are going to be able to stop their times themselves,” with the assist of touchpads at the finish of the course.

Tracking athletics

It’s nonetheless athletics that’s the most difficult sport to trace. Multiple athletes on the observe at as soon as requires extra coordination between the time keepers on the discipline, the timing room and the information dealing with room.

Finally, what does this innovation spell for Omega, the watchmaker higher identified for being on the wrist of James Bond? Zobrist explains, “It really is two different worlds today. Mechanical or watch-making is fundamentally different from timekeeping of sports events. But the roots are the same, with the stop watches that Omega used in 1932.” And there’s a sharing of values – “precision, accuracy and attention to detail”.