12/21/24
August 25, 2004
A history of Olympic timekeeping technology: from averaging 25 observers' stopwatch times in 1932 to 2004's photo finish that takes 1,000 pictures per second.
posted by kirkaracha to other at 11:23 AM - 6 comments
<OT>Not FPP worthy but reasonably good for a laugh: Today's Top5 list covers the Olympics, with particular plusses at #1 and 3.</OT>
posted by billsaysthis at 11:53 AM on August 25, 2004
the beach volleyball radar gun sounds like something tennis has been using for a while now. Or has tennis graduated to lasers and GPS positioning and RFID in balls and robotronic nanotechnology? We R Robots!
posted by worldcup2002 at 01:16 PM on August 25, 2004
I assume it's based off the tennis guns, wc, which are probably based off of the baseball guns, which are probably based off of Boss Hogg's radar gun when he was chasin' those Duke boys, but I'm just saying that I haven't seen a display or anyone talk about it during the beach VB coverage.
posted by Ufez Jones at 04:36 PM on August 25, 2004
Yeah, cos when you tuned into the beach volleyball, you were looking for serve speeds.
posted by JJ at 03:48 AM on August 26, 2004
I really would be interested in them, JJ, which is why I emphasized that I've been watching both men's and women's. Granted the men's game is a bit more exciting due to the longer rallies, but May and Walsh's run was a ton of fun to watch. The aesthetics were just gravy.
posted by Ufez Jones at 02:21 PM on August 26, 2004
This year's newest technology is the beach volleyball radar gun. Timers will use them to clock the speed of spikes and serves. Identical to the radar guns used in tennis, the devices rely on the Doppler effect to determine the speed of the ball. The displacement speed is calculated by comparing the ultrasonic frequencies picked up by the radar and the speed at which the echo is returned Okay, I've watched quite a bit of beach volleyball this year, both men's and women's, and have yet to see this. Am I just channel surfing at the wrong time? Sweet article, though. Thanks, kirk.