Last week, I read this
online article about US winter team competing with 3D-printed sleds in
Pyeongchang, South Korea. It immediately paid my attention mainly because it
helped the US to win its first Olympic medal in a men’s luge singles event at
the Pyeongchang Winter Olympics. The new sled manufactured with 3D printing
technology helped Chris Mazdzer to win the silver medal in a sport dominated
over the years by European nations, mainly German and Austrian teams.
The author of the
article, Jen Booton, is a senior writer at SportTechie covering the many ways
technology is disrupting sports.
The real question is
whether it is fair or not that a technological improvement in one athlete´s
equipment can make him win a high-level sport competition in detriment of
others who also deserved it because of their better performances or records in
previous competitions. And what’s worse, it might mean for some of them to have
thrown overboard years of hard work that should have paid off in the end. Not
to mention their frustration.
This brings to mind the
1954 Soccer World Cup, held in Switzerland, where Germany defeated Hungary in
the final. On that occasion, all pointed out that the impressive Hungarian
team, full of star players, would be a sure bet to win. However, the German
team played with improved football boots manufactured by Adidas, which introduced
removable screw-in studs on the outsole allowing to adapt their footwear to
weather and field conditions, whilst the Hungarian team used the then-conventional
leather studs in their heavy soccer cleats. Apparently, it started to rain in
the middle of the match giving the Germans a tangible advantage on the soaking
wet pitch. To what extent did it contribute to make Germany win the World Cup?
We will never know.
As a final point, I’d
say that technology is increasingly involved in many sports, especially those ones
using technical devices, such as yachting, cycling, canoeing, skiing or luge.
To put it in a nutshell, although most credit must go to athletes themselves
for their years of preparation and intense training, technological advances in
the equipment can make the difference between winning or losing in high-level
sport competitions like World championships or the Olympic Games.
Other related
articles:
