Technology at the Games:
In the beginning of the Olympics, results were not recorded with much attention to detail. There were no stop watches or photo finishes, no TV to show the world records being made or broken to the rest of the world. The winner of the 100m in 1900 had his win recorded as being by "one foot  with third being inches away." 

The stop watch and camera only came into use at the Los Angeles Games in 1932. A newsreel film of a race was used to decide a dead heat there, when a stop watch could not separate the two runners.

Today, technology has virtually changed the way many sports are played. In cycling, for example, technology not only plays a part in judging the race, all equipment is specifically designed to be the best, lightest and fastest and give the competitor the best advantage on the track possible. Cycling equipment is tested in million dollar wind tunnels to make sure it is dynamically the fastest yet. Even the clothes worn are designed especially for the sports involved like the high tech swimming costumes appearing this year. 

Swimming pools are designed to minimise wave interference and give better grip for turns off the wall. Swimmers no longer swing their arms when starting but grip the edge for a better start. Freestyle stroke has changed the arm movement from a straight arm action to a "S" movement which puts the hand in towards water not already pushed backwards and increase buoyancy and reduce drag in the water.

The design of the javelin has been changed to make technique more important than power. Javelins on small running tracks were landing close to spectators. A new design with better weight distribution makes it "float" better and shortens flight time and distance.

Sprinters are also wearing body hugging lycra suits which lessen wind resistance and cut off up to a tenth of a second. Swimmers' costumes have gone full circle it seems with women once again wearing full length costumes! Only this time they are technologically superior and allow freedom of movement, decrease water absorption and improves speed. 

Advances in medical science have helped athletes work out better training schedules which will have their bodies in top condition for important events. Schedules are tailored to reduce fatigue and help performance.

The technological contribution to the Olympic Games has meant that competition is a lot closer and made the standard higher. Competition between countries to improve sports technology had been extremely strong and continues to improve the performance of athletes and the enjoyment of spectators in watching highly skilled and technologically advanced performers. 

Technology and the Sydney Olympics:
Full Body Suits: 
The new generation teflon-coated bodysuit made its debut at the Australian Olympic swim team trials in Sydney on 13 May. Ian Thorpe wearing one, smashed his own 400m freestyle world record in a time of 3:41:33 - half a second faster than his time in the Sydney Olympic pool last August. Thorpe said the body suit helped him set the new world record. It made him feel better throughout the swim because he didn't hurt as much. Other swimmers wearing them were Suzie O'Neil, in her Commonwealth record 100m freestyle swim, and Petria Thomas who were among the 86 swimmers from a field of 441 on the opening day to wear the suit. It is claimed that they give a 3% advantage. These suits will be worn at the Olympics by the Australians and probably many other countries as well.

Media and Communications: 
Enabling people to keep in touch with each other and the world during the Olympics, will require a massive communications technology network. This will include - 
6 000 computers
15 000 telephone lines
12 000 two way radios
6 000 mobile phones
2 000 000 metres of cabling
Without modern technology broadcasting, running and organising the Sydney Olympics would be impossible.

Every single event of the Olympics will be recorded and more than 3 000 hours of live television will be broadcast not only in Australia, but around the world. They are expecting around 3.5 billion people to to watch the Games.

Computer Technology:
IBM FanMail:
IBM FanMail  is an Internet program that allows people from around the world to send "good luck" or congratulatory messages to Olympic athletes.

The IBM Surf Shack:
The IBM Surf Shack, located in the Athlete's Village, has 50+ Internet-connected PCs via which the athletes receive and answer their FanMail, surf the Web and build personal Home Pages.

Venues:
Stadium Australia was specially built for the Sydney Olympics. It is the largest outdoor venue in modern Olympic history. The stadium will seat 110,000 people during the Sydney 2000 Olympic Games. 

The Opening Ceremony, Closing Ceremony, all track and field events and the gold-medal game for football (soccer) will be held in the stadium. At its highest point, the stadium is about 14 storeys high. The stadium has eight levels and four Boeing 747s would fit side-by-side under the span of the main arch.  Construction started in September 1996 and finished in March 1999 at a cost of $A690 million.

Rainwater from the roof of the Olympic Stadium is collected in underground tanks that supply water to the Stadium and is also used to fill the Sydney aquatic Centre Pool when needed.

The roof of the Stadium is translucent to minimise shadows and patches of sunlight on the playing area. The roof is 3 hectares in area. In an emergency, an ambulance can drive up the spiral ramp and reach any level of the stadium. 

The Sydney International Aquatic Centre, the Sydney SuperDome, Hockey Centre and Sports Pavilions are also within the Sydney Olympic Park area. 

Many other venues have also been built outside the Park area, but no matter what the sport, no venue is located more than 30 minutes traveling time from the Olympic Village.

Accomodation:
Sydney is the first time in Olympic history that all participants will stay in a single village. The Village includes 650 permanent dwellings and 500 specially built homes that will be relocated after the Games. It will become part of a new suburb called Newington after the Games. 

This Village will be one of the world's most environmentally friendly. Solar energy is used in the Village to provide the majority of power. Not only will it supply all its own electricity, there will be enough left over to send  to other places.

The volume of toilet tissue to be used during the Games will be 14 960km, four times the distance from Sydney to Perth. The number of towels needed is around 140 000, 7km high if stacked up - three times the height of Mt Kosciusko, our highest mountain!!

Transport:
It is estimated that 3 3 50 buses and 4 500 drivers will be required for the Olympic Games. Some parts of the bus fleet will operate 24 hours a day. Trains are expected to carry most of the spectators. During the events, a new state of the art rail link will take up to 50 000 passengers an hour to Olympic Park.

There will be no private car parking available at the Olympic Games venues, drivers will have to park at special parking stations and catch free shuttle buses to the venues.

Sydney airport is being upgraded to cater for the large numbers of international visitors and a new underground railway link will take visitors directly from the airport to the Olympic transport provided. Special facilities have been provided for people with disabilities like low level buses that allow wheelchairs to enter from the footpath.

Environment:
Sydney has taken great care with the environment for the Sydney Olympics. Before the Games commence, a target was set to plant 2 000 000 trees. The first one was planted in 1998 by Shirley Strickland, one of our past Olympians.

TRANSPORT: The use of public transport will mean fewer traffic hold ups and less pollution from exhausts. Spectators will use the same ticket for transport and entry, saving tonnes of paper.

PACKAGING: There will be no polystyrene packaging of food at Olympic venues. All plates and cups will be reusable, recyclable or able to be made into compost.

HEATING: The Sydney Aquatics Centre has cooling vents beneath each spectators seat which means only the air around each one is cooled saving huge amounts of energy. Heat created by running the air conditioning is used to warm the water in the pool.

EARTHWORMS: At SOCOG Headquarters, 400000 volunteers are working day and night to help clean up the environment. They are earthworms which are living off the food waste from the cafeterias and eat up to 75kg of food waste each day. SOCOG is the first office to have a worm farm installed.