Olympic timing

It was to say the least rather embarrassing. Less than a day after the electronic clock counting down the last 500 days to the start of the London Olympics was unveiled in the capital’s Trafalgar Square it stopped working.

Stranger still a few moments later it began counting the wrong way. A technician was dispatched quickly to fix it while Omega – its maker whose name was emblazoned all over it – issued an understated statement. “We are obviously very disappointed ” it said. As Sebastian Coe the chairman of the Olympic authorities had already noted the launch of the clock was “an important milestone… athletes’ careers are based on timing.” This didn’t look like getting off the starting blocks in style.
Fortunately when it comes to the event itself Omega – or more specifically Swiss Timing its professional sports timing offshoot and the official timekeeper of the Olympic Games contracted in until 2020 – will be on top of things. At least its unveiling of the countdown clock for the Sochi 2014 Olympic Winter Games a couple of months later went without a hitch. “What we do is about providing a service that’s all about consistency which is something no timekeeper and no Olympic Authority can take a risk with which is why the technology used at this level is proven and mature ” as Christophe Berthaud Swiss Timing’s CEO stresses. “Still we are working at the leading edge of sports timing – this isn’t the usual sponsorship deal in which whoever puts down the most money gets the job.”
Certainly such is the complexity of the job that while other watchmakers have dabbled in specialist sports timing – TAG Heuer in motor-racing for example or Rado in tennis a sport it is now looking to get back into – Sports Timing is just one of two all-rounders designing their own technology the other being Seiko. It was Seiko that developed among other timing gadgetry one of the icons of track and field events – the electronic starting ‘gun’ and its innovative connection to speakers in each set of starting blocks; because with the traditional starting pistol even the speed of sound may provide some advantage.
“Obviously over history there has been radical change in sports timing design. But the fact is that from competition to competition the demands on time-keeping still increase ” says Berthaud. “At the international level the difference between athletes is getting ever finer. You may be one second behind Schumacher in Formula 1 and that makes you an excellent driver – but you’re last on the grid. And now that distinction applies even more so to other sports too. As time differences become increasingly tight so the need for accuracy is all the more important. We want the medals to go to the right people.”

“We want the medals to go to the right people.”

And he means it. Tolerances recording to a factor of ten are already routinely built into timing arrangements – events such as the 100m are officially timed to 1/100th of a second but now actually timed to an accuracy of 1/1000th with other sports requiring 1/1000th measurement recorded at 1/10 000th; both help in instances of false starts and dead heats. But Omega will introduce a new timer capable of a staggering 1/1 000 000th of a second at this summer’s spectacle.
In development for three years using Swatch Group technology and components it has been tested for use initially in cycling and equestrian sports. “The more accurate the clock the more able we are to deal with parameters we can’t control ” as Berthaud has it.
While Londoners has clamoured to get a ticket to the forthcoming show starting tomorrow night Friday 27th of July Berthaud won’t even be looking in the right direction. “Our main purpose is not to watch the competition but the technology so we won’t get to see much of the sport ” he says carefully.
Text extract: from Plaza Watch No. 17.