Technology and the Olympics

At the first Modern Olympics results were recorded without any great attention to
detail. High jumpers and pole-vaulters did not use landing mats, there were no stop
watches and no photo finishes. In 1900, the winner of the 100 metres, American
Francis Jarvis, was recorded as "the winner by one foot from Walter Tewksbury, who
beat Australian Stan Rowley by inches." The stop-watch and the camera did not appear
at the Olympics until the 1932 Games in Los Angeles. The camera was used to decide
a winner when the naked eye and the stop-watch could not separate Americans Eddie
Tolan and Ralph Metcalfe. Newsreel film was offered to the judges and after several
hours Tolan got the gold medal, although both runners broke the world record at 10.3
seconds.

Today, technology has a more profound effect on sport than it did in those early years,
by literally changing the way most sports are played. Cycling is a fine example.
Francesco Moser, a world record holder, places as much import...