Technology

‘Futuristic’ Starting Gun Ensures Olympians Hear the ‘Crack’ at the Exact Same Time

Omegas Electronic Gun Replaces Powder Pistols to Make Starting Fair

This e-pistol ensures athletes hear the starting "crack" at the same time. (Image: Omega)

Have you caught a glimpse of what appears to be a toy gun at the Olympics this year? In case you missed its debut at the 2010 winter Olympics in Vancouver, the traditional starting gun has been replaced with an all electronic version so that athletes have a fair chance at hearing the crack at the same time.

The gun looks nothing like the powder pistol — a purposeful design choice — you may be picturing that sends a resounding blast for athletes to shoot off their blocks. Popular Science explains why the changes were made:

It’s easy to take for granted just how insanely close some Olympic races are, and how much the minutiae of it all can matter. The perfect example is the traditional starting gun. Seems easy. You pull a trigger and the race starts. Boom. What people don’t consider: When a conventional gun goes off, the sound travels to the ears of the closest runner a fraction of a second sooner than the others. That’s just enough to matter, and why the latest starting pistol has traded in the mechanical boom for orchestrated, electronic noise.

[...]

There’s also an ulterior reason for its look. In a post-September 11th world, a gun on its way to a major event is going to raise more than a few TSA eyebrows, even if it’s a realistic-looking fake. Rather than deal with that, the e-gun can be transported while still maintaining the general look of a starting gun.

Omegas Electronic Gun Replaces Powder Pistols to Make Starting Fair

Then: In 1961 East German Athletics shows a traditional starting pistol firing. (Photo: Wikimedia)

Omegas Electronic Gun Replaces Powder Pistols to Make Starting Fair

Now: Omega's electronic pistol that sends the starting sound through speakers only. (Photo: Omega via Popular Science)

The Atlantic, which recently featured the gun, highlighted an example of how a traditional starting pistol can actually affect athletes’ time:

As Peter Hürzeler of OMEGA Timing told me, a conversation with sprinter Michael Johnson at the Sydney Olympics caused him to realize that even with speakers, the speed of sound was still slowing down the farthest athletes. Johnson’s reaction time, Hurzeler said, “was 440 thousandths of a second. Normally athletes leave between 130 and 140 thousandths of a second. … I asked him, why did you have such a bad starting time?” Turned out, Johnson was in the ninth position, and the sound of the gun was reaching him too slowly.

Omega describes the gun as “a streamlined, futuristic device composed of a flash gun and sound generation box.”

Since 1932, Omega has been the official time-keeper of the Olympic games, evolving its methods as technology improved. Check out Omega’s interactive timeline of its Olympic history to see more of these technological advancements here.

Comments (33)

  • drmda
    Posted on August 9, 2012 at 8:19pm

    Michael Johnson is just making a poor excuse for his poor performance.
    Let’s do some math.
    Each lane is 1.22 m wide. The runner in lane 9 is 9.76 m from runner in lane 1. (8 lanes away)
    Sound travels at 343 m/s at sea level.
    Therefore the runner in lane 1 heard the starter’s pistol 28 thousandths of a second before
    the runner in lane 9. That does not explain why Michael Johnson’s reaction time was 300 thousandths of a second slower than the runner in lane 1.

    Report Post »  
  • Ghandi was a Republican
    Posted on August 9, 2012 at 2:19pm

    These will one day be the NWO issue available for home defense. This way all the criminals get a fair shot…

    Report Post » Ghandi was a Republican  
  • TheMajority
    Posted on August 9, 2012 at 12:49pm

    We know how influenced the Olympics are by global collectivism. We know they wanted to use dog shock collars on human beings, to get them to jump on “Q”, (oh yea—soros laughs). But that would not take enough money from any tax payer, and would be too big of a step for the mob. May be it will be called “The Fairness Collar” in 4 more summers.

    Report Post »  
  • Murkman
    Posted on August 9, 2012 at 12:29pm

    If they’re so worried why not just use a light?

    Report Post »  
  • TheMajority
    Posted on August 9, 2012 at 12:25pm

    Well, you can move a bang sound several hundred yards away from the runners, perpendicular to the line of runners, with the center line aimed at the center runner, and you would have much less varience in distance relationships compared to a sound coming from 50 feet up the track, hitting the runners at a big angle. But why go with sound in the first place? Light is much faster than sound. I would think if you wanted to make it perfect timing for everybody, a visual would be much better than sound—like a simple flare gun with report. You see it blow, and you go.

    Isn’t this just like big government global progressives, spending time and money on things, when simple and more effective answers—were known, for hundreds of years.

    Report Post »  
    • TheMajority
      Posted on August 9, 2012 at 12:40pm

      To add to that. Since the globe is all collectivists and has all the influence of the world put into the Olympics, why don’t they just use dog shock collars on human beings to get them to jump on “Q”?

      Yea–I bet soros liked that one.

      Report Post »  
  • 2smart
    Posted on August 9, 2012 at 11:14am

    Sound travels at 343 meters per second with variations from temperature, air density, amplitude, etc…. It really doesn’t matter the source of the sound, it’s irrelevant. This is just another example of what I have observed all of my life and that is that no matter how good the old tried and true is someone has to remake it so that they can achieve the same results.

    Report Post » 2smart  
  • Xplorer
    Posted on August 9, 2012 at 10:21am

    so, what do deaf runners look for?

    Report Post » Xplorer  
    • Lothmar
      Posted on August 9, 2012 at 12:34pm

      Isn’t this why they have the starting lights (and or boths with doors that release at the same time) on both sides of the tracks for race horses etc?

      Report Post »  
    • RamonPreston
      Posted on August 10, 2012 at 2:01pm

      The smoke from the gun.

      Report Post » RamonPreston  
  • oldsoldier10
    Posted on August 9, 2012 at 8:41am

    1. Who gives a damn what the F is used? 2. Why must we re-invent the wheel, what the traditional fire arm is now not good enough? 3. http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=endscreen&NR=1&v=RFZrzg62Zj0

    Report Post » oldsoldier10  
    • RRFlyer
      Posted on August 9, 2012 at 9:16am

      Someone woke up cranky today

      Report Post »  
    • RamonPreston
      Posted on August 10, 2012 at 2:03pm

      Wait! You could put a bullet in that starter pistol. Have to strike down the 2nd amendment.

      Report Post » RamonPreston  
  • Flyingfish
    Posted on August 9, 2012 at 7:36am

    “There’s also an ulterior reason for its look. In a post-September 11th world, a gun on its way to a major event is going to raise more than a few TSA eyebrows”

    What a joke. I few a few years ago from LA to St Louis and had to bring my handgun with me. I did what little paperwork that is required. The woman at the ticket counter had no clue what to do so I walked her through it. When the TSA scanned my bag you could clearly see the handgun, at which they barely batted an eye. What did they get upset about? The fact that I had a full sized thing of shampoo and the one way ticket I was flying on. I was moving so I had brought my regular toiletries along. I was amused though at the time since all I had to do to blow them off was show them my military travel orders. The TSA is and always will be a giant joke.

    Report Post » Flyingfish  
    • piper60
      Posted on August 9, 2012 at 7:52am

      The TSA is why I put up with Amtrak for traveling this summer. Not too bad east of Chicago, but west? Amtrak doesn’t own its own tracks. They have this ridiculous agreement with UP, that means that anytime they hear or see a freight coming from the other direction, they have to pull over and wait for it to pass. This last friday, we ended up 5 hours late getting from Dallas to Chicago because of it. The ride from Chicago to Boston was within 20 minutes of being Exactly on time. I wish the government would do something to rectify the situation west of Chicago, but apparently, they don’t want any efficient competition for the airlines. Which are busy merging and/or going broke thanks to federal policies.

      Report Post » piper60  
    • blOWS
      Posted on August 9, 2012 at 10:19am

      I travel with my handgun on just about every trip. Ticket agents are who you deal with mostly when you carry a gun…TSA just scans it on their super-duper-non-tax-paying-GE-machine. I’ve never been delayed carrying a gun. Where I have been though is when I forget the 1/2 emptly water bottle in my carry on or I forget to remove the projector. Then it is a major ordeal.

      BTW I have a hip replacement, so I am pulled for “special screening” every time (I fly 40 weeks/yr). I know the spiel by heart and some guys (TSA) just go through the motions and away I go. Every once and a while, I get the TSA lifer (the guy I know who will by my guard when they put the practicing Roman Catholics away in the camps) who will repeat line by line the whole rap, slowly, and who will slap my donuts on the pat-down just to get the point across that he is the boss…

      Oh, my, my, speaking of being persucuted by the gov’t, today is the feast day of St. Teresa Benedicta of the Cross, otherwise known as EDITH STEIN. German Jew, convert to Catholicism, Carmelite nun who died on this day at Auschwitz in 1942.

      Viva Cristo Rey!

      Report Post » blOWS  
    • eagle2715
      Posted on August 9, 2012 at 10:58am

      -PIPER60

      “I wish the government would do something to rectify the situation west of Chicago, but apparently, they don’t want any efficient competition for the airlines”

      The idea you want the government to ‘fix’ this makes me question your reasoning ability…

      A passenger train makes about 1/100th as much $$ as a coal train. And that is why they dominate the tracks out west. BNSF is not in the train business to compete with eh airlines, they are in the train business to make money….

      Don’t like it? Drive. Because if you keep asking for the government to ‘dictate’ what trains get the right of way on private tracks I’m gonna slap you in the face with Atlas Shrugged.

      Next your going to be asking for a hoarse and buggy lane on the freeway to compete with automobiles…good grief man….

      Report Post » eagle2715  
  • Rob
    Posted on August 9, 2012 at 4:50am

    I ran track in college and was pretty fast, but I sometimes beat faster guys because I really focused on a fast start. I would explode out of the blocks and be a step or two ahead right away, and sometimes that made the difference.

    Report Post »  
    • RamonPreston
      Posted on August 10, 2012 at 2:09pm

      I ran track as a kid but I ran long distance. The secret to winning is hold your breath when you want to pass someone. The person in front can hear your breath and know you are about to pass and will speed up. Footsteps are deceiving. If you hold your breath by the time the runner in front realizes that someone is there it’s too late to speed up.

      Report Post » RamonPreston  
  • mharry860
    Posted on August 9, 2012 at 2:16am

    She’s kind of hot, but what difference does it make when this crap is going on. http://www.zerohedge.com/news/knights-berserk-algo-bought-26-million-worth-stock-every-second

    Report Post » mharry860  
    • Stoic one
      Posted on August 9, 2012 at 3:17am

      My thoughts exactly, she’s kinda hot……….

      Report Post » Stoic one  
    • RRFlyer
      Posted on August 9, 2012 at 9:20am

      Why must so many people (including MHARRY860) always want to be angry? When you go out for coffee with someone do you spend your time complaining that your companion wants to talk about weather or tv shows instead of hating everyone all the time?

      Take a break, we only have one life, why spend it under a cloud?

      Report Post »  
  • watersRpeople
    Posted on August 9, 2012 at 1:17am

    If someone is going to have their last name be Cain, or Saul – why don’t they just cut right to the chase, and Hitler, or even more to the point make your last name Satan.

    Report Post »  
  • Anonymous T. Irrelevant
    Posted on August 8, 2012 at 11:46pm

    That’s what I noticed. The ones who got off the blocks the fastest were ahead, even though th slower runners were keeping pace during the run. Because they got out of the blocks sooner, they were ahead and won.

    Report Post » Anonymous T. Irrelevant  
  • daxbrady
    Posted on August 8, 2012 at 11:40pm

    so an electronic sound is faster than black powder sound? makes no sense.

    Report Post »  
    • meeester
      Posted on August 9, 2012 at 12:29am

      there is a speaker at each set of starting blocks.

      Report Post »  
  • Master_and_Commander
    Posted on August 8, 2012 at 11:24pm

    cool toy, I want one.

    Report Post »  
  • randy
    Posted on August 8, 2012 at 11:11pm

    I‘m surprised they didn’t call it a starting device….. instead of a starting gun….
    I’m working on a 9mm version that looks just like that :) LOL

    Report Post » randy  
  • Ralleo
    Posted on August 8, 2012 at 11:07pm

    So by this logic then all terrorists need to do is change the “look” of a gun so it isn’t so menacing and they can sneak it past any security?

    Guess the man with the golden gun had the right idea.

    Report Post » Ralleo  

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