Technology in Track and Field
Track and field is a sport about progression, the sport revolves around trying to beat your personal bests and others personals best, this rivalry fuels the development of the sport. Each athlete is looking for the edge a both their competitors this is when most athletes turn to technology. With the increase in technology being used throughout track and field there are some positive and negative effects on the sport.
A positive impact of technology which is helping the sport grow is the ability to be able to instantly watch replays of runs, jumps, and throws. This was not perviously possible because if you did film the event you would have to wait till maybe the next day to see the video. Videos of track and field are now easily available via the internet, this benefits a lot of athletes world wide because they can learn from the best improving their own skills and knowledge. Technology has helped improve the length of professional athletes careers by the use of recovery tool which previously were not used .Because athletes depend on their bodies as a source of income this is a crucial advancement in technology for track and field athletes especially, because most athletes retire due to injury. Finally best positive impact from technology within the sport is the application of science to the running technique. Prior to the use of science in track and field, athletes didn't know how best use their bodies in their desired events to get the best performance. The introduction of science towards athletics has dramatically increases performance. As athletes look for that slight edge on athletes which may be as small of a difference as 1cm to 0.01 of second, the development of these sciences within the sport can be gold medal winning, for example with the event of the high jump the primary technique used in the 1950s was the western role, the highest ever jumped with this technique was 2.35m but when science was applied a better technique was discover which late became know as the fosbury flop which propelled the event to knew heights, raising the world record to 2.45m an extra 10cm to the previous record done with the other techniques.
along with these positive come negatives to the sport. As technology improves so does the cost for these new and expensive technologies, which poorer countries or olympic committees might not be able to afford. This brings up the discussion if wether these athletes are unfairly disadvantaged because they don't have access to these drastically improving technologies. With the increase in technology it has become harder to become the best athlete in your discipline. this can deter a lot of athletes away from the sport because the standard of athletics may seem to high to achieve. With the increase in technology within biology athletes are finding it even easier to cheat now by uses untraceable methods of cheat such as blood doping which involves athletes refilling the blood supply with fresh oxygenated blood which increases recovery time. With the increase in social media athletes are now facing criticism they would have never faced before. If the athlete makes a simple error they could be attack online by fans which can affected their mental preparation to an event. Some athletes have committed suicide due to the criticism they received after competing in competitions. These are negative impacts which will become apart of the sport of track and field now, as technology advances so does the negative impacts from it.
A positive impact of technology which is helping the sport grow is the ability to be able to instantly watch replays of runs, jumps, and throws. This was not perviously possible because if you did film the event you would have to wait till maybe the next day to see the video. Videos of track and field are now easily available via the internet, this benefits a lot of athletes world wide because they can learn from the best improving their own skills and knowledge. Technology has helped improve the length of professional athletes careers by the use of recovery tool which previously were not used .Because athletes depend on their bodies as a source of income this is a crucial advancement in technology for track and field athletes especially, because most athletes retire due to injury. Finally best positive impact from technology within the sport is the application of science to the running technique. Prior to the use of science in track and field, athletes didn't know how best use their bodies in their desired events to get the best performance. The introduction of science towards athletics has dramatically increases performance. As athletes look for that slight edge on athletes which may be as small of a difference as 1cm to 0.01 of second, the development of these sciences within the sport can be gold medal winning, for example with the event of the high jump the primary technique used in the 1950s was the western role, the highest ever jumped with this technique was 2.35m but when science was applied a better technique was discover which late became know as the fosbury flop which propelled the event to knew heights, raising the world record to 2.45m an extra 10cm to the previous record done with the other techniques.
along with these positive come negatives to the sport. As technology improves so does the cost for these new and expensive technologies, which poorer countries or olympic committees might not be able to afford. This brings up the discussion if wether these athletes are unfairly disadvantaged because they don't have access to these drastically improving technologies. With the increase in technology it has become harder to become the best athlete in your discipline. this can deter a lot of athletes away from the sport because the standard of athletics may seem to high to achieve. With the increase in technology within biology athletes are finding it even easier to cheat now by uses untraceable methods of cheat such as blood doping which involves athletes refilling the blood supply with fresh oxygenated blood which increases recovery time. With the increase in social media athletes are now facing criticism they would have never faced before. If the athlete makes a simple error they could be attack online by fans which can affected their mental preparation to an event. Some athletes have committed suicide due to the criticism they received after competing in competitions. These are negative impacts which will become apart of the sport of track and field now, as technology advances so does the negative impacts from it.