Winter Olympics @ Sochi- A Perspective

Unlike the summer Olympics which takes the world by its exuberance and the galore of entertainment, winter Olympics is a subdued event. Even the sporting events are three times less than the summer Olympics. But this doesn’t take away the sheen from these sporting events which have tremendous support and viewership across the world. The ongoing winter Olympics at Sochi is the twenty second edition of games. These are conducted at a span of four years in alternating even-numbered years so that it doesn’t clash with the summer Olympics.

Winter Olympics 2014 are held for the first time in Russia after the breakup of USSR. Moscow was the venue for the summer games in 1980. Sochi Olympics have hit the headlines for various reasons- ranging from the surplus budgetary costs of $51 billion far exceeding the estimated $12 billion surpassing the Beijing Olympics of 2008 which is the most expensive with total cost of $44 billion so far.  It is also mired with excess cost over run, safety concerns over the LGBT (Lesbian Gay Bisexual Transgender) athletes due to Russia’s anti-LGBT policies; protests by the ethnic Circassian activists as some of the Olympic facilities were built over the graves of the Circassians who were killed during genocide by the Russian military in 1860; protests by the environmentalists regarding the displacement and rehabilitation of the people displaced for making way for the venues, over exploitation of the construction workers and illegal dumping of the construction waste threatening the health of the residents and the habitats of the migratory birds.  Even a suicidal bomb attack before a train station in Russia 40 days before the games also have raised the concerns about the safe conduct of games. Just few days before the opening ceremony, countries were very sceptical about sending their employees to the games fearing cyber spying and theft of intellectual property. Travel advisory has been issued to sports enthusiasts, business men, tourists against use of public internet connection/ airport wi-fi as they are the hot spots for the internet hawkers.

Amidst of raging controversies, Winter Olympics were declared open in a glistening ceremony. The over arching demonstrations failed to dampen the spirit of the sportsmanship and fanfare of the sport enthusiasts. Sochi winter games hosts 98 events in 7 different sports and participants from 88 countries have represented their country in this sporting fest. Winter sports are amazingly different wherein athletes and organisers constantly strive to bring in new sophistications into the game to make it more challenging and endearing.

Winter Olympics are unique as they test not only the extensive athletic training but also the underlying scientific technology that improve their performance and speed. Some of the records created are astounding as they defy the laws of nature. Many well trained athletes delivered brilliant performance by donning scientifically designed equipment. Hence engineering and athletic training go hand in hand for exceptional maneurving in winter games. A careful analysis of each of the sporting events would point out to scientific implications of the laws of physics that contribute to the dazzling performance.  For example- high speeds skating across the sides of the half pipe coupled with change of direction resulted in developing the centripetal acceleration which gives the athlete more air time to execute double flips and rotation. Further advances in engineering were employed to optimise the dimensions of the half pipe to enhance the performance of the athlete. Apart from the super training, immense talent and laws of physics nearly every sporting event have relied on the latest technological advancements for pushing athletic skills to the maximum.

The biological superiority of certain people coupled with lower weight of athletes seems to have bearing on the final execution of their skills. Events like cross country skiing are conducted on manicured slopes located a relatively higher elevation. But as the altitude increases, atmospheric oxygen levels fall hence athletes participating in this event should have an enormous capacity to transport oxygen to muscles. Medal winners in this event are found to harbour a genetic mutation which stimulates the manufacture red blood cells. More the number of red blood cells, higher will be oxygen supply to the muscles hence better the performance. Similarly in ski-jumping women who are lighter outperform men as being 1 kg lighter add to 2m to 4m jump distance. Thus being lighter would turn out to be greatest advantage for women. Scandinavian people were found be more genetically suitable for these kind of sporting events. Norway with a very scant population has the distinction of having most Olympic medals in Winter games.

A study revealed that overall injury rate for both summer and winter Olympics stood at 11% but injuries are most acute and severe in winter Olympics. Hence special emphasis has been laid on scientifically developing safety equipment to mitigate the extent of damage. Of all the events, skeleton racing is most dangerous. Person simply lodges onto the bobsled with head first and races at a speed of 80 mph. Losing control can lead to death or severe injuries. Hence engineers are now designing sleds with built-in adjustable frame and helmets that absorb more gravitational pull to minimise the impact of injury. Safety has become issue of major concern ever since Michael Schumacher and German Vice Chancellor Angela Merkel got injured during skiing.

Organisers of winter Olympics have the huge task of maintaining a good coverage of snow on the slopes for skiing events. Last edition of winter games at Vancouver had a poor show in these events a uniform snow cover was absent on the slopes. To avoid such embarrassing situation a Finnish firm Snow Secure was hired to have snow cover on higher altitudes. Artificial snow was generated by blasting atomised water into the air when it is coldest. 

Further special suits are designed for skating and skiing which not only keeps the athletes warm but also reduces the drag. Since Sochi is nearer to Black Sea, athletes have to lung past air which is heavier, thicker and humid.  Suits which are textured as the shark skin were developed by researchers in US which also reduced the drag by 17%. Zippers and seams are positioned in a calculated way to minimise the drag. In US customised wind tunnels are built for training ski-jumping in US. In various skating events like ice hockey, long distance skating, short distance speed skating, figure skating etc, interesting variations in the skate blades and shoes are made to maximise the speed, agility, gliding and chasing to give an edge to the athlete. The culmination of advances in engineering, diligence, scientific designing and intensive training of athlete would result in carving an ideal winter Olympian.

While London won accolades for it sustainability efforts, Russia have been under fire from environmentalists for tweaking the conservation laws for games related construction. Recent episodes of the climatic aberration- Arctic Vortexing experienced by the US at the beginning of the year and massive floods in UK are fall out of global warming. Further depleting snow cover in several parts of the Northern Hemisphere raises serious doubts about the future of the winter games. It is predicted that only 6 out of the 19 cities that hosted winter games will remain cold enough in 2100 to do so again.

 

 

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