title: The impact of technology on sporting performance in Olympic sports.
abstract: To assess the effect of technology on sport, the performance statistics for four disciplines were analysed: the 100-m sprint, pole vault, javelin, and cycling. The concept of a performance improvement index was developed to allow comparison between athletes and between sports with a higher index indicating a greater improvement in the sport. The following performance improvement indices were found: 100-m sprint, 24% over 108 years; pole vault, 86% over 94 years; javelin, 95% over 76 years; 4-km individual pursuit, 35% over 32 years; one-hour cycling record, 221% over 111 years. Around 4% of the index for the sprint was attributed to tighter, aerodynamic clothing, suggesting that general athletic improvement in sprint-type events has been around 20%. Technological developments in simple equipment such as the pole vault or javelin were seen to affect the index by around 30%, while the index associated with aerodynamic improvements in the one-hour record was around 100%. It is concluded that the performance improvement index could be extended to amateur as well as elite sport where distance or time is used as a measure of performance.
authors.affiliation: Centre for Sport and Exercise Science, Sheffield Hallam University, Sheffield S10 2BP, UK. s.j.haake@shu.ac.uk
authors.forename: Steve J
authors.initials: SJ
authors.lastname: Haake
mesh_terms: D054874:Athletic Performance; D001642:Bicycling; D003020:Clothing; D004738:Engineering; D004867:Equipment Design; D006801:Humans; D019563:Mechanics; D013177:Sports; D013672:Technology; D014142:Track and Field