Omega And The Olympics

"While the timing was done on a one-fifth of a second, athletes were obviously also dependent on the flexible fingers of the judges. Unthinkable today!"

On July 27th, we will see the spectacular opening of the Olympic Games in London. From that day, over 10,000 athletes and officials from over 2,000 countries will participate in this 17-day long event.

This will be the 25th time that Omega takes care of the official timekeeping. (We're not talking about the the large digital displays that show the results, but the equipment that does the actual timing during the games.)

Eighty years ago, Omega used 30 mechanical chronographs to time the performances of the athletes. All these chronographs were chronometer certified to make sure they were accurate enough. While the timing was done to one-fifth of a second, athletes were obviously also dependent on the flexible fingers of the judges. Unthinkable today!

The biggest breakthrough for Omega's Olympic timekeeping was in 1948, when it introduced the cellular photoelectric eye (what later was referred to as Photosprint) to time the Winter Games in St. Moritz. Together with the British Racing Finish Recording Company, Omega started working on the use of the “Magic Eye,” a photofinish camera that recorded speed and images. The Olympic Games started using the Magic Eye in 1948, during the Summer Games in London.

During those years, Omega kept putting effort in the research and development of timekeeping equipment. This resulted in a new version of the Magic Eye, renamed the Photosprint. In 1952, it started using the Photosprint and was capable of showing a hundredth of a second below the images of athletes crossing the finish line.

Perhaps the most well-known and most visible timekeeping innovation that Omega came up with is the Swim-O-Matic. Swimmers need to tap the touch pad themselves, thus eliminating poolside timekeepers. The initial Swim-O-Matic was invented in 1956, but touch pads were only introduced by Omega in 1968 (but used for the first time during the 1972 Olympic Games).



Omega's Scan-O-Vision is another invention from Switzerland for the Olympic Games. It measures speed-skating times to a thousandth of a second by combining the digital images of finishing and the exact time in a single document. This was introduced during the Winter Games in Albertville, 1992.

In 2000, Omega introduced OmegaTiming.com, which enables you to witness the timing of the Games live. Within a few seconds, all information about athletes and their times are displayed, including images and rankings.

During the last 10 years, Omega refined most of these inventions and made many improvements using high-speed cameras, GPS devices on athletes and an electronic start system that makes it possible to quickly identify false starts. Next Page >>

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