The science behind the Olympics

The Olympics are a great way to get young people to consider the science of sport, and with Team GB doing so well it really is an inspirational time for us all.

With this in mind Future Morph decided to take it one stage further and try to show young people some of the 'behind the scenes' careers that they may be unaware of.  

Around 20,000 broadcasters, photographers and journalists are working around the clock during the Games to reach an estimated four billion people worldwide. It is science and technology that makes this possible and means that the world can be kept up to date with the latest action from the Olympic Park in an instant. Engineers from the International Broadcast Centre took centre stage for a series of Future Morph interviews this week.   

Brian, a video and audio engineer, Mike, a broadcasting engineer and Nigel, the Deputy technical director all provided us with a profile of their career in the hope that it will give young people an insight into some of the jobs within broadcasting that go beyond the presenter and the cameraman, and show them that studying science subjects at school can help them to take up these exciting and varied careers.

These profiles are all available on the new sports section of the Future Morph website which also includes articles on anti-doping and how to perform under pressure with related careers information. 

All of the athletes taking part in the London 2012 Olympics are also using science in some way to improve their performance and help them to strive for gold. Andy Murray will have used science to look at the speed and spin of the tennis ball as he planned his strategy to take gold in the men’s singles event. Victoria Pendleton will have had a number of scientists and technologists behind her to make sure that her bike was as efficient as possible when put onto the wooden track of the velodrome.

There is also science behind the 100m race, not to mention the team of sports scientists, nutritionists, physiotherapists and rehabilitation specialists (to name but a few!) who will have been behind Jessica Ennis’ gold medal for the heptathlon. 

Steve Ingham, the BASES Chair of the Division for Sport and Performance, and Head of Physiology at the English Institute of Sport:

"In recognising that the margins between winning and losing grow ever closer, Team GB athletes through the support of UK Sport exchequer and lottery funding have been able to leave no stone unturned in their approach to preparation and performance. The home country institutes of sport work in tandem with national governing bodies of sport to deliver the objectivity of understanding and developing these extraordinarily talented athletes. The support scientist and medic cannot operate in isolation, but must do so as a collective of specialists working in concert as a multi-disciplinary team whilst being truly immersed in the athlete and coaches programmes. Only do they then gain the trust to go to work. The application of science, therapy and medicine requires not only cogent appreciation of first principles knowledge, methods of best practice and delivery, but requires the agility and lateral thought to innovate and individualise whilst illuminating the unbeaten path ahead with high quality objective observations.

Performance systems have progressed, athlete performances have progressed, the medal tally has progressed - and the scientific method is now a central tenet in that progress".

For more information on how athletes use science to improve their performance have a look at the athletes profiled on the Future Morph website. 

So, is science really behind the Olympics success of Team GB in London 2012? We think so!