Athletics, Technology In
The differences in skill among athletes who compete at the highest levels of their sports are actually very small. Mere hundredths of a second are likely to separate those standing on the winner's platform from the also-rans after the Olympic 100-meter dash or 100-meter freestyle swimming competition. On any given day, the margin of victory of the world's top-ranked professional tennis player over, say, the 10th-ranked player can be just a few key points at critical moments in a handful of key games. The difference between being ranked number one and number ten is likely to be not just raw ability but the consistency with which a player exercises that ability from game to game, even point to point, during a match.
In this highly competitive environment, athletes look for any edge that will help them win. To achieve that end, they have enlisted the aid of science and technology. World-class bicyclists, for example, are as likely to be as knowledgeable about the latest advances in metallurgy as they are about their sport so that they can design aerodynamic, lightweight bicycles that will help them shave seconds off their times. They also carefully select their helmets and clothing to minimize wind resistance, again in an effort to eliminate any factor that would slow them down.
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