50 Fun Facts About Technology in Sports

Who originally developed the Hawk-Eye ball-tracking system in the United Kingdom?

Engineers at Roke Manor Research in Romsey built it in 2000; Sony bought the company in 2011.

Hawk-Eye was first used on television in 2001 to analyse which cricket decision?

It triangulates feeds from up to ten high-speed cameras into a 3D path of the ball.

To within how many millimetres is Hawk-Eye advertised to be accurate?

Even so, its makers describe it as not infallible.

Which company bought Hawk-Eye Innovations in March 2011?

The deal valued the firm at £15m to £20m.

Which Grand Slam first used Hawk-Eye officially for player challenges, in 2006?

Each player received two challenges per set; the Australian Open followed in 2007.

Which 2021 Grand Slam was the first to use Hawk-Eye Live for all matches, with no line judges?

The move was partly to cut personnel during the COVID-19 pandemic; the US Open followed that year.

What does VAR stand for in football?

The official works under the philosophy of 'minimal interference, maximum benefit'.

In which year did IFAB formally write VAR into the Laws of the Game?

It made its global debut at the 2018 World Cup in Russia months later.

VAR's first use in an official match was a 2016 cup tie involving which Dutch club?

The opponents were Willem II, on September 21, 2016.

How many categories of decision can VAR review?

Goals, penalties, direct red cards and mistaken identity; only 'clear and obvious errors' get overturned.

Where does the English Premier League station its VAR teams?

Germany's federation runs its video operation room in Cologne-Deutz.

Whose disallowed goal at the 2010 World Cup pushed FIFA to reopen the goal-line debate?

His shot against Germany bounced down off the bar and clearly over the line.

In which year did IFAB officially approve goal-line technology?

The Laws were amended in July to permit, but not require, its use.

How many high-speed cameras did the GoalControl system use at the 2014 World Cup?

It had been trialled at the 2013 Confederations Cup; Ligue 1 later dropped it for Hawk-Eye after errors.

Who scored the first Premier League goal decisively awarded by goal-line technology?

It came for Manchester City against Cardiff City on January 18, 2014.

Which system, based on magnetic fields and a sensor in the ball, was tested in Denmark in 2012?

It was tested in Danish Superliga matches in the first half of the year.

Which World Cup was the first men's tournament to use semi-automated offside technology?

It combines player-tracking cameras, computer-generated lines and a sensor inside the ball.

How many data points per player did the offside cameras track at the 2022 World Cup?

They were tracked 50 times per second, including limbs relevant to offside calls.

What was the name of the sensor-equipped Adidas ball used at the 2022 World Cup?

Its motion sensor tracked every touch 500 times per second and fed data to the VAR team.

The Telstar, first World Cup ball shaped as a truncated icosahedron, debuted at which tournament?

Its 12 black pentagons and 20 white hexagons became the standard image of a football.

In cricket, what does DRS stand for?

Players can request a review by the third umpire; on-field umpires have been able to refer decisions since 1992.

The cricket Player Referral system was first tested in 2008 in a match between India and which team?

The ICC officially launched it in November 2009 during New Zealand v Pakistan in Dunedin.

Hot Spot in cricket relies on which kind of camera?

Two cameras at either end of the ground pick up the heat left where the ball strikes bat or pad.

Which English computer scientist invented the Snickometer in the mid-1990s?

It pairs a frame-by-frame replay with the waveform from a microphone near the stumps.

The oldest known single-exposure racetrack photo-finish images were made in which year?

They were taken by John Charles Hemment; modern strip cameras arrived in the 1940s and 1950s.

Photo-finish cameras typically use which photographic technique?

The camera records only the finish line, so the horizontal axis of the image represents time rather than space.

Which watchmaker has been the official Olympic timekeeper since 1932?

Its 1952 Time Recorder was the first to use a quartz clock and print results.

Jim Hines's 1968 Olympic 100 m was first measured by automatic timing at what time?

Early systems had a built-in start delay, so the figure was later adjusted upward.

Swimsuit drag was cut by what percentage by Speedo's LZR Racer versus its predecessor?

NASA wind-tunnel testing supported the design, and 94% of Beijing 2008 races were won in the suit.

How many of the 25 swimming world records set at Beijing 2008 were swum in the LZR Racer?

FINA's 2009 rule change made such polyurethane suits ineligible from January 1, 2010.

From which date were LZR Racer-style suits ineligible for competition?

FINA voted in July 2009 to require woven textile materials and limit suit length.

Which fashion brand collaborated on the look of Speedo's LZR Racer?

The suits were developed by Italy's Mectex with the Australian Institute of Sport.

World Athletics' 2020 shoe rules capped sole thickness at how many millimetres?

Shoes may also contain no more than one rigid embedded plate.

Eliud Kipchoge first wore the Vaporfly Elite in 2017 at which sub-two-hour marathon attempt?

The attempt was staged on the Monza racing track in Italy on May 6, 2017.

Which early electronic line judge was introduced at Wimbledon in 1980?

It fired infrared beams 10 mm above the court to call serves long; Hawk-Eye later superseded it.

Which fencing weapon was the first to switch to electrical scoring, in 1933?

Foil followed in 1956 and sabre not until 1988.

In which year did the NBA introduce the 24-second shot clock?

Syracuse Nationals owner Danny Biasone and GM Leo Ferris tested it in a scrimmage that year.

Which Syracuse Nationals owner experimented with the 24-second clock?

The franchise is now the Philadelphia 76ers.

Who invented television instant replay for CBS in 1963?

It debuted during the Army–Navy Game; Lindsey Nelson told viewers 'Army did not score again!'

Instant replay made its debut during which college football rivalry game?

The date was December 7, 1963, two weeks after the Kennedy assassination.

In which season did Major League Baseball begin using a pitch clock?

The change followed tests in minor league, college and partner leagues.

Under MLB's original pitch clock, how long did pitchers have with the bases empty?

The limit rose to 20 seconds with runners on base.

In which season was Statcast installed in all 30 Major League ballparks?

It combines Doppler radar with high-definition video to track every player and pitch.

Which system did Statcast's TrackMan component replace for official pitch speeds in 2017?

Hawk-Eye Innovations later supplied the high-speed cameras for Statcast.

Which company's RFID location system has tracked NFL players for Next Gen Stats since 2014?

The firm had expanded into RFID smart labels a decade earlier.

Catapult, the athlete-tracking company, is headquartered in which city?

It grew from a 1999 Australian Institute of Sport project to replace lab testing with microtechnology.

What does a Whoop band score daily from 0% to 100% to tell athletes whether to train?

It draws on sleep, heart rate variability, resting heart rate and respiratory rate.

Besides tennis serves, radar speed guns are commonly used in sport to clock what?

The same device police use for traffic enforcement also measures cricket bowling speeds.

From which season did the Premier League use Hawk-Eye goal-line technology?

It also covered the later rounds of that season's League Cup.

How many challenges per set were players given at Hawk-Eye's 2007 Wimbledon debut?

The system ran on Centre Court and Court 1 that year.