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John Brenkus, host of ESPN Sport Science, wrote an article about some of the new technological equipment that is being developed and hopefully used in the 2020 summer Olympics. These improvements are to made to improve safety, lower costs and to make scoring simpler and more accurate. This will enforce fair play. In horse jumping many riders are injured in falls and so are the horses. The horses cost their owner great sums of money and its risky to push them to jump hirer if they could potentially damage their investment. Equipment developers are currently working on a way to minimize this risk by making holographic obstacles. If a horse broke a beam there would be no risk of injury. Instead the score would just automatically be lowered(Brenkus,2012).  Another sport where accurate judging is potentially going to be improved by equipment is the long jump and triple jump. The University of Arizona is working on changing the current sand pit into a mat that can record the exact point of landing. This will theoretically eliminate any conflict over miss judging and calculate the jump much more efficiently(Brenkus,2012). Soccer balls are also being redesigned in order to avoid confusion or misjudgment of the ref. As one goal can make or break a game there are often problems with how the ref determines a goal. A chip is being designed that can be places inside a ball and the moment it passes the goal line the ref is signaled in under a second through a watch. If this is successful it is going to be used in other sports as well such as football(Brenkus,2012). |
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Other interesting advancements include, moving venues that change the way people watch sports, interactive info-graphic programs that help athletes develop strategies, and t-shirts that lower body temperature.
Everyday new ideas are being presented about the future of sports and new equipment. The reasons for improve it remain the same however, convenience and fair play have been added to the reasoning behind developments.
Works consulted German bobsleigh pilot punished for lending equipment to Russian Olympics champ. (n.d.). - RT News. Retrieved April 15, 2014, from http://rt.com/news/machata-bobsleigh-banned-zubkov-198/ History Timeline of the Bicycle. (n.d.). History Timeline of the Bicycle. Retrieved April 15, 2014, from http://www.pedalinghistory.com/PHhistory Is the Use of Advanced Materials in Sports Equipment Unethical?. (n.d.). Is the Use of Advanced Materials in Sports Equipment Unethical?. Retrieved April 15, 2014, from http://www.tms.org/pubs/journals/jom/9702/froes-9702.html Sports Equipment and Technology. (n.d.). The Sport Journal. Retrieved April 15, 2014, from http://thesportjournal.org/article/sports-equipment-and-technology/ future of sports. (n.d.). Popular Science. Retrieved April 15, 2014, from http://www.popsci.com/category/tags/future-sports |
