Over time, technology has slowly integrated itself into the world’s favorite sports. It makes decisions more precise and games more efficient. These changes are designed to improve gameplay and make it more exciting to watch. As both sports and technology advance, there have been and will be bigger and better uses for it.

After many controversial finishes in the Olympics, Bill Parkinson invented the touchpad which allowed swimmers to stop the clock once their hand touched the wall. Which reduced poolside timers to back-ups. They first made their debut in the 1968 Mexico City Olympics. Now touchpads are now used at every major swimming event including the Olympics.

Instant replay made its debut in the Army vs Navy football game in 1963. It was a pivotal moment in sports technology history due to how important instant replay is today. It’s used in pretty much every sport and it’s seen major improvements over the years.

A digital photo finish camera for track is a specialized, high-speed camera system that captures a narrow, vertical strip of the finish line, recording every moment a competitor crosses it. It works by capturing thousands of 1-pixel-wide vertical slices of the finish line per second and combining them into a single, long, continuous image that shows the precise order and timing of each athlete as they cross

Often using Hawk-Eye Live, it is a technology that uses a system of cameras and computers to automatically make line calls in tennis, replacing human line judges. This system tracks a ball’s trajectory in real-time, providing an accurate, 3D representation of its path to determine if it is in or out of bounds. An automated voice then makes the call, speeding up the game and increasing accuracy.

Statcast is a tracking technology that allows for analysis collection of data in baseball. Statcast was first introduced at the MIT Sloan Sports analytics conference. In 2015 it won the Alpha Award for best analytical innovation. In 2014 it saw limited use as it was still being implemented.

Tracking micro chips in football has been in place since 2017. The NFL uses chips in game balls to provide data for Next Gen Stats and other performance tracking. In 2022 FIFA World Cup introduced tracking devices in soccer balls for the first time. There are 12 tracking cameras to track the ball and around 29 data points of each player’s limbs to track their movements.

The NHL Edge system is the league’s advanced player and puck tracking technology, using infrared cameras and sensors in jerseys/pucks to generate real-time data on skating speed, distance, shot speed, and location

An AI-powered system that assists video assistant referees (VAR) in making faster and more consistent offside decisions by automating the process of identifying the “kick-point” and drawing offside lines. It uses multiple cameras and sensors to track players and the ball, and once an offside situation is detected, it provides an automated alert and a 3D graphic to the VAR, who then reviews and confirms the decision before it is relayed to the on-field referee.

A virtual measurement system uses cameras to electronically determine the position of a physical object, such as the ball in a sports game, to measure distance. This differs from manual methods by replacing the physical chain crew with cameras and software to provide faster, more objective results, as seen in the NFL’s new first-down measurement system powered by Sony’s Hawk-Eye technology

Each team will start with two challenges and will retain their challenge if it is correct. Batter, catcher and pitcher can now challenge an umpire’s pitch call. How is the ABS strike zone measured? Like the plate, it is 17 inches wide. The top end of the zone is at 53.5 percent of the player’s height, while the bottom is at 27 percent of the player’s height. The depth of the zone is 8.5 inches from both the front and back of the plate to its center.