Perfect timing
The London 2012 Games is a landmark Olympics for Omega, marking its 25th occasion as Official Timekeeper. The 2012 Games is also the 80th anniversary of Omega assuming the role and sees the brand returning to the city that saw the start of modern Olympic timekeeping.
At the 1948 London Olympics starting blocks, photo-finish cameras and photo-electric cells were used for the first time. Athletes’ times were recorded electronically, removing the problems of human error, allowing for photo finishes and for results to be recorded with greater precision than ever before. And as with every Olympic Games, Omega has developed and advanced timekeeping once again for London 2012, including improved starting blocks for both the athletics and swimming, high-speed cameras in swimming lanes, the Open Water Gate for marathon swimming events and the Quantum Timer, which is the most accurate timekeeping device ever, with a resolution 100 times larger than previous devices at one millionth of a second.
It’s good that the Official Timekeepers have been on hand at London 2012 – an impressive set of records has crumbled beneath the power of the world’s best athletes. The one everyone will certainly be talking about has to be last night’s Jamaican 4x100m Men’s Relay team setting a new world record in the final. Usain Bolt ran the final leg of a masterful race that finished in 36.84 seconds, surpassing the former record of 37.04 seconds set by the same Jamaican team at the World Championships in Daegu last year.
Kenya’s David Rudisha was the first to break a world record on the London 2012 athletics track when he ran the final of the 800m in 1.40.91 – the first man to ever complete the race within one minute 41 seconds. The time set by the US women’s 4x100m Relay team in the London 2012 final demolished the previous record set by East Germany in 1985 by an impressive 0.55 seconds. In the velodrome, Britain’s cyclists couldn’t stop breaking records – both the Women’s Team Pursuit and Men’s Team Sprint cyclists smashed world records on their way to gold medals.
The US women swimmers ruled the pool at London 2012, with the incredible 4x100m Medley Relay and 4x200m Freestyle Relay teams both setting world records, and Missy Franklin, Rebecca Soni, Dana Vollmer all setting records in their individual events.
The results have been astonishing – the perfect match for a breathtaking Olympics. And for each second, and each hundredth or thousandth of a second, Omega has been there to record every feat of athletic prowess with precision, to make sure it takes its proper place in history.
Visit Omega’s YouTube channel to learn more about its timekeeping history. youtube.com/omega
Image courtesy of PA
BREAKING THE MOULD: The Jamaican 4x100m Relay team celebrate their victory in the final. They set a new world-record time of 36.84 seconds.....
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