BMW, the United States Olympic Committee’s Official Mobility Partner, has announced the completion of a velocity measurement system, marking the first time an Olympic technology project has been developed in collaboration with scientists at the USA Track & Field and the US Olympic Committee.
During its development process, the velocity measurement system was tested by Bryan Clay, the 2008 Olympic gold champion in decathlon. The measurement system will henceforth be a permanent feature at the Olympic Training Center located in Chula Vista, CA. It will be used to train athletes competing in the London Olympic Games to be held in July 2012.
The velocity measurement system is capable of capturing the motion of the athlete and calculates performance metrics that is used by coaches to train long jumpers. It measures and provides real-time analysis of the vertical take-off velocity, take-off angle and the horizontal approach velocity – the key parameters of a long jump. A combination of machine vision software algorithm and stereo-vision technology is used to analyze and capture athlete motion. The technology was developed by BMW in response to data required by the USA Track & Field.
The Chief of Sport Performance at USA Track & Field, Benita Fitzgerald Mosley stated that the real-time data provided by the velocity measurement system developed by BMW will benefit both the coaches and the athletes at the training center by providing the ability to maximize the efficacy of training sessions and helping scientists and coaches make timely and better decisions.
The Vice President – Marketing of BMW in North America, Dan Creed stated that drawing on BMW’s values of efficiency, performance and innovation, the engineers have developed the velocity measurement system by adapting automotive engineering technology with other technologies to improve athletic performance.
Source: http://www.bmwgroupusanews.com