New Doha Technology

[Atticus]

snippets from home-page-linked article:

Two miniature cameras have been installed in each starting block . . . . broadcasting the first pictures of athletes’ faces in the moment before they hear the starting pistol, and capturing the explosion of energy as the athletes leave the blocks.

Seiko will also introduce an improved Start Video System, video distance measurement for shot put and new LED sand pit event boards . . .

new cameras . . . placed on . . . drones, rail and wire cameras on the back straight, a rail camera in the tunnel between the warm-up track and stadium, a super slo-mo remote camera in the discus cage, and hand-held cameras for athletes to take on victory laps.

[New graphics] will display the maximum speed reached by sprinters during a race, and their finishing speed, the speed of take off in long jump, triple jump and pole vault, the distance achieved in each of the three phases of the triple jump, and the speed and angle of release of the long throws.

Great ideas all!

[Alan Shank]

A possible pitfall is that the director will spend so much time on these new toys that we see less of the actual action. For example, one of my pet peeves is when they show a close-up from the side of athletes in the blocks, then switch to a wide front view just as the gun goes off, so you have to re-focus. There are also likely to be more shots of the runners feet and legs. They have had some of those mph graphics on DL telecasts, and they get in the way.
Cheers,
Alan Shank

[LuckySpikes]

Using drones is a dreadful idea. Just because you've got one doesn't mean you have to use it!

[Atticus]

Using drones is a dreadful idea. Just because you've got one doesn't mean you have to use it!

Have it 10' above heads and 20m in front of them and keep it in that position - I'd like that as a perspective option.

[Powell]

I don't know about TV coverage, but I believe drone cameras have already been used at championship meets to determine lane violations.

[LuckySpikes]

Have it 10' above heads and 20m in front of them and keep it in that position - I'd like that as a perspective option.

Isn't that what the spidercams (the cameras on wires) can already do?

What I'm envisaging is them flying 40 or 50m above the track. They used one for about 15 seconds halfway through the women's mile at the recent Birmingham DL and it was utterly pointless and offered a very poor perspective.

I know what the IAAF are thinking ... "Kids love drones so yeah, let's use some of those!"
Regardless of the fact that watching tiny figures run/jump/throw from 40m above the track will win no new fans whatsoever.

We don't need a gazillion different perspectives, we just need the best perspectives.

[tandfman]

I don't know about TV coverage, but I believe drone cameras have already been used at championship meets to determine lane violations.

I know they've used cameras positioned very high in the stadium and on wires, but I don't think I've heard of their using drones.

[Powell]

I know they use cameras positioned very high in the stadium, but I don't think I've heard of their using drones.

Someone who generally has a lot of insider knowledge told me so at the 2016 WJC in Bydgoszcz. I believe at indoor championships they just use cameras installed on the ceiling.

[gh]

having untethered flying objects over spectators (or even field of play) sounds like a disaster waiting to happen.

[curtgod]

Hi, i remember watching the BBC analysis from the 2015 worlds in Beijing and mj was doing his usual analysis and they had a mph speed gauge on the 100m final in which bolt won in 9.79 sec's and he hit 29mph.
also interesting was that wayde coming of the first bend into the back-straight during his 400m briefly hit 25mph.

..