Over the past few years, as swimmers, runners and other athletes around the world prepare for the Olympics, they have sought innovative equipment with the potential to help them break records and win medals. The 2008 Beijing Olympic Games has introduced new innovations and developments in products that would benefit sports players. Few of them use newer or modified polymeric products. Chemistry has been experimented with to make athletic equipment lighter, stronger, more flexible and less constricting to allow athletes to perform to the best of their ability. Anything that reduces drag benefits an athlete's speed, particularly in a short track event.
Nike has developed a new Swift suit that can reduce 0.02 seconds in 100 meter race. It offers 7% less drag than its predecessor, which was used in the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens. The Swift unitard has been re-engineered to use more aerodynamic fabrics. It is made of 100% recycled polyester yarns reclaimed from soda bottles, post-consumer uniforms, post-industrial fiber and fabric scrap. The suit has passive cooling and precisely placed mesh panels at the back, which are created as select yarns in the fabric are dissolved. Some seams and edges have been removed entirely.
Beynon Sports Surfaces installed a BSS 2000 dual durometer, full-pour polyurethane (PU) track and field surface in preparation for trials at the University of Oregon, location of the 2008 Olympic track and field trials for the US in late 2007. It was designed to be the 'fastest' track surface in the world, with maximum shock absorption due to a bio-engineered force reduction layer of butyl rubber and full-depth color PU. This allowed for daily training with less risk of stress injuries. The track was finished with a layer of embedded EPDM granules to provide traction. The track's surface, which was applied over base layers of stone and asphalt, was a two component PU featuring modified isocyanate and Acclaim� polyol from Bayer Material Science. Synthetic PU athletic surfacing is designed to be more durable than other forms of surfacing used for running tracks, field houses and gymnasiums. Unlike sheet rubber, which is adhered to the asphalt with glue, PU is chemically bonded to the asphalt and, because it is poured and not supplied in sheets like other surface materials, it creates a seamless surface free of tripping hazards.
Speedo recently launched the LZR Racer� swimsuit, created with the help of NASA and a number of international research institutes. The idea was to create a suit with 10% less passive drag than Speedo's Fastskin FSII, launched in 2004, and 5% less passive drag than Speedo's Fastskin FS-Pro�, launched in 2007. The LZR Racer� is welded to eliminate seams and is made from a lightweight, low-drag, water-repellent and fast drying fabric called LZR Pulse�, which is made by weaving together a combination of spandex and nylon yarn. The fabric feels like a windbreaker when dry. It weighs 70% less than other swimsuits, but has 15% better compression.
Claimed as the lightest and the strongest spikes ever, the newly built Zoom Victory Spikes used by the American track and field athletes at the Beijing Olympics employed Vectran� fiber manufactured by Kuraray America. Vectran� fiber is a high-performance multifilament yarn spun from liquid crystal polymer has quarter of the diameter of a human hair and is five times stronger than steel, forms a key component of the new Flywire technology. Vectran� fiber's tensile strength coupled with light weight and flexibility, enabled Nike to design the lightest weight (93 grams), without compromising on durability, integrity or support.
The 2008 Olympic torch was designed by technology firm Lenovo with a burning system created by China Aerospace Science and Industry Corporation. It was designed to be able to withstand winds at speeds up to 65 km/hour nearly 50mm of rain/hour and temperatures as low as 5�C. This is the first time the torch has used only propane, selected because it would not freeze on Mount Everest. In the Sydney 2000 Games, the torch used a mix of butane and propane, to produce a flame that could even burn underwater at the Great Barrier Reef.