Sports Technology

With improvements in computing power, interest in increasingly complex golf swing simulations is growing. This article reviews the evolution of the underlying models and looks at the implications of the simplifications and assumptions made. © 2008 John Wiley and Sons Asia Pte Ltd

At the 2002 Olympic Winter Games of Salt Lake City, the skin suits developed by Nike for speed skating events seemed to be extremely successful. The question we address in the paper is whether these suits really contributed to better skating performance. © 2008 John Wiley and Sons Asia Pte Ltd

Bat performance is regulated in most leagues. Some players modify their bats to gain an advantage. This study measures the effect that bat modification has on performance and compares tests methods to determine if a bat was modified. © 2008 John Wiley and Sons Asia Pte Ltd

Accelerometers on the sacrum have been used to record and quantify commonly used swimming performance measures of stroke rate and stroke count. The developed algorithms minimize resources required to process data and deliver results. © 2008 John Wiley and Sons Asia Pte Ltd

The experimental-analytical methodology for analyses of the functionality and durability of ropes beyond the findings from UIAA experiments is presented. It allows the examination of time-dependent viscoelasto-plastic behavior of ropes exposed to arbitrary falling-weight loading conditions. Image reproduced by permission of Prof. Stojan Burnik, University of Ljubljana. © 2008 John Wiley and Sons Asia Pte Ltd

Sprinting biomechanics of a double transtibial amputee using dedicated prostheses is compared with sprinting biomechanics of able bodied controls of the same calibre of 400m performance. Ground reaction forces and impulses, net joint moments of ankle, knee and hip joint, and mechanical joint power of the prosthesis and the sound ankle joint are different. The carbon blade used by the double transtibial amputee has a significant advantage in energy storage and return in relation to the healthy human ankle joint in fast sprinting at constant speed. Sprinting with prostheses provides a different kind of locomotion allowing the fast running at lower metabolic cost. © 2008 John Wiley and Sons Asia Pte Ltd

Discussions around ‘techno doping’ evolved when Oscar Pistorius ran the 400m in 46,90 sec at the Golden Gala in Rom, 13th of July 2007. His attempt to qualify for the Olympics in Bejing 2008 and compete with able bodied athletes directed the attention to the state of the art prosthetic echnology. This article provides an insight into the challenges of a running amputee. © 2008 John Wiley and Sons Asia Pte Ltd