The most recent global event that grabbed the eyes of every sports fan was probably the Tokyo Olympics, and it would be a shame to let this great source for an article pass by; the Olympics are not there every year, right? As a member of the technology section journalists, I wanted to write an article about the technology hidden in the uniforms of the Olympic athletes, in other words, this article will convey wearable technology used by ones engaging in sports.
Wearable technology doesn’t necessarily mean a whole new area of technology. If you can wear it as an accessory, or can implant it in your clothes, then anything could be considered as wearable technology. The most obvious types of those are smartwatches like Apple watches, which are already used by many people and help them check their activity status as well. In the field of Sports, clothes with sensors are most often used. These minute sensors that are closely attached to each athletes’ bodies provide much more accurate data that will help the athletes and the manager to find a way to improve their scores. According to Barden, these sensors can calculate and collect data on very specific parts that were hard to be calculated before; like how fast a swimmer can move within a number of strokes, or how much pressure the athlete puts on before a certain part of the jump in a ski jump, and these kinds of informations are useful when it comes to breaking records (Barden).
Not only physical analysis, but those sensors are also used to make biomedical analysis on the user’s body condition as well. There is ongoing research into the abilities of those sensors to conclude a more accurate analysis of the wearer using their eccrine sweat (Seshadri). These sensors analyze the sweat of the wearer without invading their body itself, and find out the ratio of biomarkers that helps figure out the health status of the wearer. This technology will develop more and eventually might be used in a broader range other than people who are involved in sports.
By: Sohee Im