In swimming management events, the phrase “touching the touchpad” is often used to describe crossing the finish line.
The touchpad is a device used to accurately record the moment an athlete makes a ‘touch’.
Alain Zobrist, CEO of Omega Timing, the Swiss watch brand that serves as the official timekeeper for the Summer and Winter Olympic Games, explained how Olympic swimming events are timed to a group of journalists from around the world at the La Défense swimming pool in Paris on Friday (Aug. 25).
For the South Korean management team, which is looking to win its first Olympic swimming medal in 12 years after Park Tae-hwan at London 2012, the touchpad is a key part of the equation.
Zobrist illustrated this with the epic battle between Michael Phelps (USA) and Milorad Kavic (Serbia) in the 100-meter men’s butterfly final at the 2008 Beijing Olympics.
The 100-meter butterfly was Phelps’ seventh gold medal of the Games, his eighth overall.
Phelps and Kavic touched the touchpad at almost the same time. Each claimed to have touched the touchpad first.
The official time on the touchpad developed by Omega was 50.58 seconds for Phelps and 50.59 seconds for Kavich, with Phelps being 0.01 seconds faster.
The Serbian team, after checking the ultra-high-speed video provided by Omega, claimed that “Kavic touched the touchpad before Phelps, but he didn’t have enough strength to press it, so Phelps’ time was recognized first,” but the claim was not accepted.
In fact, it’s hard to tell which swimmer touched the touchpad first from the finish line photos.
In the end, the International Swimming Federation ruled in favor of Phelps, and Kavich reluctantly accepted the result, still sounding completely unconvinced long afterward.
Zobrist explains, “Athletes will be measuring their times by manually tapping anywhere on the touchpad. They have to press with 1.5 to 2.5 kilograms of pressure to be recognized. If it recognizes less pressure, it will react to the waves that the athlete creates,” he explains.
“We can’t say for sure that Phelps was the first to touch the touchpad, but he was the first to ‘press with enough force to stop the touchpad clock,’ and he was the winner,” Zobrist added.
This means that it’s not enough to just touch it, you have to hold it firmly until the end to be recognized as a complete record.
Hwang Sun-woo, the first Korean athlete to be named an Omega Ambassador, explains, “Swimming is a sport where medals are decided by 0.01 seconds. If I lose by 0.01 seconds, it will be really disappointing, so I will work as hard as I have been doing so that I won’t create such a disappointment.” 메이저사이트