The stopwatch at a track meet in Ohio flipped my whole thinking.

I was timing a 400-meter race at a local high school meet last spring and noticed my phone's stopwatch was off by a full second compared to the official timer. That got me looking into how these big athletic events keep perfect time with those sensor pads and digital cameras. Then I started wondering if the same tech could be used to fake race results or manipulate records without anyone knowing. I found a forum where someone claimed the 2016 Olympic trials had a timing glitch that changed who qualified. It felt like a small thing, but now I question every record I see in sports. Has anyone here looked into timing systems at major events?

2 comments

2 Comments

the_wyatt8d agoMost Upvoted

Yeah, timing glitches are more common than people think. A buddy of mine officiates college meets and told me about a false start sensor malfunction that nearly DQ'd the wrong runner at regionals, and they only caught it because a backup video showed the real timing. You ever dig into what equipment they use for backup verification?

anderson.jason8d ago

@the_wyatt actually the false start sensors measure pressure so they can't really glitch like that...