While there have been many changes in the modern Olympic Games, two of the most notable are athletic performance and the rise of technology.

Back in the 1896 games, for example, stop watches marked the start and finish of a race and the timing of the althletes’ performances. This, however, has evolved over the years as technology changed.

In a sprint race, every millisecond counts, so even the starting gun now is electronic. The speakers connected to it are positioned such that no runner will hear the shot of the gun even a millisecond before another runner.

At the finish line, a laser is projected across to a light sensor, also called a photoelectric cell or electric eye, positioned to receive the beam. The system includes two photocells set at different heights to prevent false readings from arm movements. When a runner crosses the finish line and interrupts the beam, the electric eye triggers a signal to the timing console, recording the runner’s time.

In marathons, however, there are so many competitors; not everyone can start at the same time. Wearable timers called radio-frequency identification tags are essential.

In some events, athletes wear timing monitors that record split times as they pass, offering information that can assist in future training.

Training elite athletes has also evolved.

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In the 1932 Olympic Games, the winner of the men’s 100-meter swim was clocked at 58.2 seconds. Fast forward to 2016 and the winner touches the wall more than 10 seconds sooner at 47.58 seconds.

What’s the difference?

Well, we know a lot more about human conditioning, the science behind how our bodies work and respond to different exercise. Athletes are now training differently to maximize performance. We also know that sprint athletes need different training than endurance athletes, so competitors have become faster and stronger, training specifically for their sport.

There is engineering going on for the outside factors that might enhance performance, as well.

It begins with materials science and comes down to things like friction and lubrication.

Friction, where body parts rub together, can result in painful sores. Not enough friction, though, can inhibit balance and grip. For these, materials like polytetrafluoroethylene and silicone elastomers are known for their low resistance measure, causing less chafing.

Frictional heat can also cause injury. So, today’s athletic wear is equipped with fabrics that absorb and expel heat and maintain an ideal skin temperature. Some materials are also equipped with lubrication to reduce friction and manage moisture.

These materials also need to be durable yet flexible.

Other materials enhance an athlete’s ability by making minute changes to aspects of their bodies.

For example, some gear is fitted with compression technology — originally developed to mitigate circulatory issues in medical patients — that increases blood flow, subsequently reducing muscle exhaustion. Gear might also be made of materials with coatings that repel water using nanotechnology.

And footwear with carbon plates offer the runner enhanced energy return.

These sorts of performance-enhancing materials, however, strike some as unfair advantages. Some call this “tech doping.”

Doping, or taking performance-enhancing drugs, cost cyclist Lance Armstrong seven Tour de France victories and an Olympic bronze medal in 2012.

While technology isn’t being ingested to increase performance, it is still altering an athlete’s physical ability with enhancements. And while the Olympic athletes are monitored for drug doping by a global agency, the yays and nays of gear is left up to each sport’s own regulatory authority, like when World Aquatics banned full-body swim suits after swimmers who wore the LZR Racer set 93 world records. The organization banned the suit because it reduced muscle vibration and smoothed skin texture.

At the current summer Olympic Games taking place in Paris, more enhancing equipment is being used, like Nike’s super spike running shoes, which are reported to improved running performance by 1.5 percent.

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“Elite sports performances are always a combination of biological capability and the training of that ability through technological means,” says Andy Miah, a
media researcher at the University of Salford.

Miah published a book on the topic in 2018 and helps investigate doping technology for the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) and the British Government. He is often consulted for his opinions on new technologies. Additionally, Miah serves as an academic adviser to the International ESport Federation.

“There is no natural athlete. In fact, [being an] elite athlete is a very unnatural way of life — but that doesn’t make it bad,” Miah says.

That may be true, but it doesn’t necessarily make it fair, either. If everyone had access to everything, it may even out the playing field, but Nike’s previously mentioned super shoe, for example, can be worn only by athletes sponsored by Nike.

As with most things, it will come down to what’s fair and doing the right thing.

The slogan for anti-doping in the sports world is ”Play True.” It’s just a matter of finding the definition of what this means in the age of technology.