Skeleton Bobsled

Date 16 May 2008

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Time

19:30 - Start

Location

Conference room hotel “concord”
Via Lagrange 47
10123
Torino
(directions to the room will be available in hotel lobby)

Max number of seats in room :150

Check in desks outside conference room.

Presentation will be with PC and Projector. Microphone and speakers supplied by hotel.

All dates

13 February 2008 Rome, Italy
02 March 2008 Holon, Israel
11 March 2008 Dublin, Ireland
31 March 2008 Prague, Czech Republic
08 April 2008 Grenoble, France
10 April 2008 Paris, France
12 April 2008 Ankara, Turkey
14 April 2008 St Julians, Malta
19 April 2008 Fribourg, Switzerland
22 April 2008 Sophia Antipolis, France
16 May 2008 Turin, Italy
19 May 2008 Paphos, Cyprus
22 May 2008 Nicosia, Cyprus
15 July 2008 Sheffield, UK

Speaker

Dr John Hart

About this event

How important is a tenth of a second? This may sound like an inconsequential short period of time, however to an athlete this can make all the difference between being remembered as a gold medalist, or a nearly man. One sport where these all important tenths of a second are so important is in the winter Olympic discipline of Skeleton Bob Sled.

At the 2006 Torino Winter Olympics the medals winners were separated on average by three tenths of a second after two runs. So how do you find this extra speed? Athletes have tried allsorts of different approaches in the quest for extra speed, not always legal which has been all too noticeable within sport in recent years. However one method of attaining this extra speed legitimately is through the use of an engineering approach.

Sophisticated engineering techniques that originated in the affluent sports of Formula 1 Motor Racing, and America’s Cup Sailing, are now being used in Olympic disciplines by international elite athletes in an attempt to go faster. This lecture looks at how some of these modern engineering techniques are being used in Skeleton Bob Sled in the pursuit of Winter Olympic medals.

The challenges faced by the engineers implementing them, are also covered, from the difficulties faced when working with elite athletes, to handling the question of whether the use of engineering in sport is just another form of cheating? What is not in doubt is that engineering is revolutionizing sport allowing us to go faster, further, better, than ever before. The lecture is suitable for all ages, in particular for those with an interest in sport, technology or both. A scientific background is not necessary and questions are encouraged!

Following this seminar there will be an optional opportunity to have a go on the Taxi Bob track at Cesana Pariol on Saturday, 17 May. Please click here for further details.”

Registration

To register for this event please contact Emanuele Salomone

Programme

Session 1:

Alessio Ramellini – 930am

Getting the information out. Today we are used to going to a sport event and get flooded with information coming from scoreboards, videoboards, plasma screens, announcers, sms and paper, we can even connect to internet and get that bit of extra data on the event we are watching. But we hardly realize the hard work needed to get this information out. Alessio will explain to you what happens on a competition day on a bob track, taking you behind the scenes, and showing you where this data comes from and how it is processed before it gets to you.

Session 2:

Andrea Girardi – 1100am

Getting the information across. We all know Olympics are a technologically “big” event, but how big is difficult to grasp. Nowadays we all expect to see on the internet streaming video clips of winners minutes after the event has taken place, or to be able to read the athletes comments minutes after they have completed the run. Andrea will show us, from a telecoms prospective, the infrastructure that needs to be prepared for an Olympic event, how it compares to other projects and what might happen in the future.

Session 3:

Prof Hart – 230pm

See 'about this event'

Session 3:

Paolo Bellino – Ivo Ferriani 400pm

The Olympic Bob-Skeleton-Luge track of Cesana Torinese two years after the Games. One of the most complex venues legacy of the Winter Olympics, with a complicated cooling system and the skilled manpower necessary to prepare the track. Paolo and Ivo will tell us about the issues to run it and the solutions found to make it worthwhile investing in its future.

Speakers Profiles

Download programme (PDF)

Organiser

IET Italian Network