ABSTRACT
While the Olympian ideal of citius, altius, fortius (higher, faster, stronger) was based on the concept of an athlete in naturalistic competition with the forces of nature, all sports-even classical events, such as running and jumping-have been shaped by technology. For example, synthetic running tracks are designed and “tuned” to levels of sophistication which make cinder tracks, such as the one on which Roger Bannister ran the first four-minute mile, seem medieval. The combination of digital and video technologies provides sports performers and their coaches/trainers with the means of monitoring the biomechanical aspects of sporting activity. The battle between administrators wishing to eliminate drugs and maintain “fair” competition and those wanting to employ biotechnologies to improve performance is fought with competing technologies.
