In 1932, Omega sent only one watchmaker and 30 high-precision stopwatches all the way from its headquarters in Bienne, Switzerland, to the US for timekeeping at the Olympic Games, held during the Great Depression in Los Angeles.
This year 530 timekeepers and on-site professionals as well as 900 trained volunteers and 400 tonnes of equipment are ready for the pandemic-postponed Olympic Games Tokyo 2020, which will begin next Friday.
The Official Timekeeper of the Olympic Games has been an integral part of 29 editions while introducing revolutionary technologies and showing its expertise in precision.
In sport climbing, athletes compete to hit the Omega touchpads.
At the Olympic Games London 1948, the photofinish camera pinpointed exact finish positions in races while the photoelectric cell stopped the clock as the first athlete crossed the finish line. This was the beginning of the "electronic era" when technology began to outperform the capabilities of the human eye.
At Innsbruck 1964 for the IX Olympic Winter Games, Omegascope technology changed the viewing experience through the concept of "real time" sports reporting by superimposing the live times of athletes on the bottom of the screen.
New Omega technologies for Tokyo 2020 will keep sports fans informed about every critical moment as it happens.
South Korea hosted Seoul 1988, where Omega began employing computerised timekeeping. PyeongChang 2018 Winter Olympics also marked a new era as the Official Timekeeper was able to provide continuous measurements of performance through motion sensor and positioning systems.
At Tokyo 2020, athletic performance will also be measured through the motion sensing and positioning technologies, to provide a comprehensive range of real-time data and redefine our understanding of sport.
Omega's high-precision stopwatches at the Olympic Games Los Angeles 1932.
At Innsbruck 1964 Winter Olympics, 'real time' reporting arrived with Omegascope technology.
Firstly, showing exactly how athletes reached their final time and result will make them and coaches understand where they won or lost time. It will also be beneficial for spectators in the stadiums and at home, by giving them added insight into the sport they're watching. Furthermore, the information will give commentators and analysts much more content for their storytelling of a victory.
Athletes on the track will be fitted with motion sensor tags on their start numbers. These tags will interact with a number of receivers around the course, and send crucial information back to Omega.
The real-time information includes live positions, live speed, acceleration, deceleration and distance.
Through new motion sensor and positioning systems, Omega provided continuous measurements of athletes' performances at PyeongChang 2018 Winter Olympics. XWS
Through motion sensor and positioning systems, Omega provided continuous measurements of athletes' performances at PyeongChang 2018 Winter Olympics. xepo w.s.
Hence watching the 100m, we will know who accelerated for the best start, or when the winner reached top speed. In the 10,000m, we can track the distance between runners and who's speeding up or slowing down.
Athletes in the pool will also have their complete performance measured through image-tracking cameras that capture their movements.
With all that water splashing around, it's not always easy to see what's happening in the pool. Omega's information will now make everything a lot clearer, such as by providing live positions in the 200m freestyle or the number of strokes in the 100m butterfly. Watching the closest finish, we can even see who accelerated the most in the final few metres.
The image-tracking technology will also be used for beach volleyball and equestrian sports. Additionally for the latter, laser detection will be able to pinpoint the horse's movement. The difference between gold and silver can come down to one obstacle, so every second matters and Omega's information will include distances, live and average speeds, time of flight and trajectory over a jump, as well as the rider's exact path around the course.
Advanced Pose Detection will be used in gymnastics to register the complete movements of each athlete. This new technology will also be an adjudication tool for judges, who will have it at their disposal to review an athlete's technique, such as the synchronicity and horizontal displacement in trampoline.
The motion sensing and positioning technologies will further be applied to road and track cycling, open water swimming and triathlon.
All in all, Omega will be measuring 339 events in 33 sports at the Olympic Games Tokyo 2020, whose new competitions include karate, sport climbing, surfing, baseball/softball and skateboarding.
Sport climbing comprises three disciplines: speed, lead and bouldering. The results of these will be combined as a ranking to determine the medals.
Interestingly, this is the second Olympic Games sport, after swimming, where athletes will stop their own time.
Introduced at the 1968 Summer Olympics in Mexico City, Omega's swimming touchpads reacted to the slightest of touches, and there was no disputing the precision of results. Likewise in sport climbing, the athletes who reach the top of the 15m wall will hit the new Omega climbing touchpads to record the time.
In the lead competition, 6 minutes and one attempt are given to athletes, who have to climb as high as possible on the wall. Boulders are 4.5m-high structures, each posing different challenges for competitors to solve as many as they can within a set amount of time.
By no doubt, Omega's new technologies and state-of-the-art equipment will take timekeeping and real-time data measurement to new heights, and sports lovers will witness the upcoming Summer Olympics in a brand new way.
