Sport, like many other areas of life, changes over time. From year to year we have more and more technological novelties, innovations and changes, and the new ones are replacing the old ones. No wonder - we like to play, watch and evaluate sports. It provides us with as much emotion as no other activity. We have prepared for you a list of 15 inventions that changed the sport - they may surprise you quite well!
Sport is not only an exciting activity, but also a wonderful, professional spectacle, refined down to the smallest details. It is so now, but it has not always been so. You probably remember, whether from your own experiences or from archival materials, what the Olympics or football matches used to look like in the past. The players did not lack passion and commitment, but … technology.
Fortunately, technology is also moving forward in sports. Thanks to this, today we can watch matches on large screens, follow the decisions of VAR judges with a beating heart, play ping-pong with a comfortable paddle, or boldly play football on mowed turf, in the rain and with comfortable shoes … It is amazing how the sports world has been over the years. it has evolved and brought us so much good. Ready to find out? Let's start!
1. Lawn Mower: 1830
Are you surprised that the lawn mower is at the top of the list of inventions that changed sport? Should not! Imagine what grassy playing fields looked like before the invention of the lawn mower - they were sloppy, grazed by sheep or mowed with scythes. Fortunately, in 1830 the appearance, and at the same time the functionality of the playing fields, improved significantly.
The idea of the mower came from the engineer Edwin Beard Budding, who adapted the technology of trimming wool so that he could also use it to trim lawns. Thanks to his fantastic invention, the possibilities for new sports games also opened up, requiring evenly trimmed lawns, such as cricket and tennis.
2. Golf ball: 1899
The development of the golf ball in its present form is pure coincidence. Once upon a time, Ohio entrepreneur Coburn Haskell was playing with a latex rubber ball and he had the idea that with good bounce and gravity, he might be perfect for golf.
He put his idea into practice in 1899, and the first strokes of a golf ball gave him a result, on average, 18 meters better than the previously used ball, the so-calledguttie ball (made of Gutta tree sap gum - gutta-percha). Due to the convexities, which later became dimples during the evolution of the golf ball, the flight of the ball was less twisting and it was much easier to follow its intended direction.
In 1902, Aleksander Herd won the golf competition thanks to such a ball. Then a new era of golf began.
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3. Rubber cover: 1901
What exactly? Ping-pong paddles. Playing ping-pong, we hardly think about what it was like when the rubber did not cover the wooden paddle. Ping-pong was played with whatever you wanted: metal sheets, boards, and even mirrors.
The revolution came in December 1901, when the manufacturer of sports equipment, Frank Bryan, released Atropos wooden rackets, which were covered with a thick layer of rubber.
It was a bull's eye. And it resulted in other well-aimed shots - those on the gaming table. Thanks to the rubber paddles, the players could afford instant exchanges, curling celluloid balls and giving them record speeds. And to think that ping-pong was played in the 17th century …
4. Motorcycle helmets: 1929
The internal combustion motorcycle was invented in 1885, and leather aviators were fashionable until 1929, although changing them to helmets is not a matter of fashion but of safety.
In 1929, Ernst Henne accelerated his motorcycle to 215.48 km / h. It was then that motorcyclists began to seriously think about changing their headgear. The first helmets were made of thick leather, cork and steel, but it was Professor Charles F. Lombard who in 1953 patented the helmet, which was the prototype of the modern ones. The helmet was lined with a hard shell and designed to absorb impacts. Thanks to this, today's motorcycle helmets save lives in accidents!
5. Screw plugs: 1954
It's 1954, the final of the World Cup in Switzerland. The Hungarian team is entering the field - the best football team of those years. A moment later, they are followed by Germany, theoretically the weaker team. During the match, the clouds break off and it starts to pour down - the players slide on the grass. However, not all of them! The Germans play as if the grass is dry and their shoes are not wet from the rain. How is this possible?
The German team has a new technological invention on their feet: Adidas cleats. Footwear that is both light and extremely effective on the ground and gives the players excellent grip during the game.
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What is the result of the match? Germany defeats Hungary 3-2 and becomes world champions. You don't need to convince anyone that this invention was extremely needed?
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6. Fiberglass and carbon poles: 1960s
Technological revolutions did not spare athletes - in the 1960s, glass and carbon poles for pole vaults were constructed. But before that, the pole vaulters must have had a hard time …
In the mid-19th century, athletes jumped with ash poles and then bamboo poles. They soared to a height of 4.77 meters - this was the record set by Cornelius Warmerdam in 1942. The weaknesses of natural materials were that bamboo cracked extremely frequently, and replacing it with aluminum and steel in the 1940s was not only a bad but also a risky choice - these poles, if used inappropriately, could seriously damage the body.
The real revolution turned out to be the fiberglass and carbon poles in the 1960s. With their help, the players started jumping several dozen centimeters higher, and in 1993 on a new-generation pole, Sergey Bubka achieved a (unbeatable so far!) Record result. 6.15 m!
7. Sprint boots: 1960s
In the past, running was not that simple - heavy, massive shoes that rubbed on the foot made it much more difficult to run, let alone sprint. In 1896, at the Athens Modern Games, athletes even wore shoes with steel spikes that limited slippage on the tracks.
However, when in the 1960s tartan surfaces were introduced and the spikes were reduced, the footwear could be much lighter and more comfortable. It was then that a real footwear revolution broke out and today the largest sports brands were created, such as Adidas, Nike, Puma, New Balance and Reebok.
Today there are even specially adapted shoes for runners, in which the left one is different from the right one and each of them has a different use, to help tilt the runner's silhouette and help him quickly enter sharp turns.
Read: History of a sports shoe - why we call every sports shoe in Poland adidas
8. Sports drinks, bars and gels: 1965
The first was Gatorade, and only footballers drank it (1965). Later - in 1983, there were Power-Bars, and five years later, gelsenergizing Squeezy.
Sports food has evolved overnight, and manufacturers have made every effort to ensure that their products are on the top. Sports and stage stars who eagerly advertised the product were certainly helpful in this. So there were nutrients, vitamin kits, boosters, bars and energy gels. In the past, afterburners and protein bars were usually one or two flavors, nowadays these flavors are countless.
Athletes cannot imagine a diet without these boosters, and thanks to them, the players' task becomes much easier - they are to focus on training, and food for athletes will do the rest.
9. Wooden baseball bats: 1970s
The place of wooden baseball bats was previously taken by metal sticks, but interestingly - they did not stop at their metal version. In 1924, William Shroyer patented metal sticks and already in the 70s players hit a ball with aluminum, and in the 90s they even did it with the help of titanium.
However, the pros have come to the conclusion that the metal poles are… too effective. The balls sent by the players flew at the speed of light and sometimes fell out of the court. For this reason, baseball is now professionally played only with wooden clubs. As you can see, not everything new is better.
10. Fan / Pundit Technology: 1997
The Fan / Pundit technology was first used in 1997. It was then that the first ever large LED screens were installed at football stadiums in Great Britain. Thanks to this, today we can watch the match and its most important parts in close-ups and with replays, despite poor visibility in the stands.
Technology advanced in 2022 and Sky Sports installed the world's first interactive whiteboard in its match analysis studio. Thanks to this, we can observe the match patterns today, and the coaches can better train their players.
11. Fitsense FS-1 Speedometer: 2000 Year
The Fitsense FS-1 speedometer is the first invention of this type that is used by sprinters (and others) to this day. The company launched foot sensors, which once and for all put an end to the uncertainty about the distance traveled and the speed of the run. Interestingly, regardless of Fitsense, the Nike company launched its speedometers at the same time, but as it turned out, this time it was not Nike that captured the hearts of athletes and referees, but Fitsense!
Old speedometers analyzed the length of the step and calculated the pace and distance on its basis - this is how pedometers work today. Today, sensors have to fight for each other a bit -Garmin in 2003 introduced GPS meters, which are also very popular.
12. System Challenge: 2010
The Challenge System is an electronic system that allows judges' decisions to be adjudicated. It's general enough to be used in a variety of sports, including tennis, badminton, cricket, volleyball and football.
The Challenge system appeared in volleyball for the first time in the 2010/2011 season. Interestingly, initially the clubs had to pay for the system out of their own pocket, but later the management agreed that it would finance this undoubted sports facility.
The video verification system was tested during the Volleyball World League in 2013 and, as you can see, it passed the exam with a score of five - now we cannot imagine a match without the possibility of a challenge.
13. GLT: 2014 year
GLT is the Goal Line Technology that has made it a lot easier for players to score goals. In 2012, the Council of the International Football Association (IFAB) approves the GLT and changes the rules of the game. Two years later, the technology is used for the first time in the World Cup, helping to score a goal from France against Honduras.
How exactly does GLT work? This is the method of determining when the ball crosses the goal line between the goal posts and below the crossbar. The system works with fourteen high-speed cameras monitoring the match placed around the pitch on the stadium's roof.
This technology is extremely useful. Thanks to it, judges receive a signal to their sports watches in milliseconds whether or not a goal has been scored. The goal of Goal Line Technology is to support the referees in making decisions and … more justice on the pitch - now you do not have to guess whether the goal has been scored or not. Thanks to GLT, you know it for sure!
It's no wonder that since 2016 GLT has been used in the best European national leagues including England, Italy, France and Germany, as well as in major international soccer competitions.
14. VAR system: 2016 year
The VAR system, or video verification, is an auxiliary system used in football matches that prevents referee errors. The VAR system was launched for the first time in August 2016. The system is operated by specially trained VAR judges, i.e. video assistants - AVAR.
How many times have there been ambiguities on the pitch during the games and the VAR system has helped resolve them? Almost every match. This shows how much this invention changed the lives of players, referees, but also us fans - our sense of justice can sleep peacefully,the VAR system controls the situation!
15. Google VR: 2016 year
Google VR can take us to a selected virtual world - you only need to put them on your nose and let your imagination run wild. Virtual reality equipment has certainly revolutionized sport for good. Now you no longer have to go to the fitness room to take part in classes and you do not have to enroll in martial arts to be able to test yourself in the ring. However, Google VR was not created for amateur sports …
VR equipment was invented in England for… rugby. The VR application allowed fans of English teams to compare the reaction time with former team players, incl. Martin Johnson and Lawrence Dallaglio.
In 2022, VR headsets are already being used by most clubs and international teams to create simulated rugby scenarios such as line outs, high balls and first phase attack. This can improve your ability to learn quickly, visualize, and make the right decisions.
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