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The Problem: In the Track and Field sports of High Jump and Pole Vault we don’t actually know what the REAL world records are because we only measure up to the height of the bar, and not to the actual height cleared over the bar, which may be, sometimes, several inches higher. Also, the records are
only measured to the nearest centimeter to take into account the slight bending of the bar due to gravity (higher precision would be meaningless). I may have a solution…
My Proposal: Instead of a bar, why not have an array of
laser beams arranged in a vertical 'wall' from down low - the lowest point you might put the bar - to well up over the highest anticipated jump; any laser beam broken is 'instantly' turned off, and the highest beam left on is the mark.
Only one of the lasers, the 'datum' laser, is actually visible to the naked eye, and this is placed at the height that the jumper is actually trying to clear - and it’s bright. All of the other lasers (only lasers above the datum are turned on) are infra-red (invisible), and are not very intense in order to protect eyes from any inordinate viewing. It also may be prudent for the jumper to wear infra-red reflective contact lenses.
Because the laser array would extend above the datum (the 'bar' beam, so to speak), be placed closer together then a centimeter, and wouldn’t be measurably bent by Earth’s gravity, I think this would increase the accuracy of the High Jump/Pole Vault tremendously; and,
with computer monitoring, it could also reduce the amount of Referee supervision.
Is there some obvious flaw in my proposal, or is this the
coolest idea since the beer Popsicle? Wait…that hasn’t
been invented yet. Hhhmmm……
[link]
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Not a bad idea! However, I suspect that
jumpers would like the physical bar to
remain. Also, you'd have to have some
kind of smoke or vapour to make the
"visible" beam visible. |
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Why not just have the infra-red beams
extending above the real bar? This
would provide an accurate measure of
height cleared (as long as the bar itself
was cleared). |
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Making the lower beams progressively more powerful would act as an incentive to greater effort on the part of the athletes. |
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The visible beam should be blue or green for maximum scattering/visibility. The mist/vapor is easy to arrange. |
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That beam could be pretty powerful, in practice. In theory, nobody would ever be exposed to it for more than a fraction of a second. |
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Your plan has a problem in that in the traditional high jump(less so in pole vault) the competitors body parts may actually pass beneath the bar as they execute the body gestures required to achieve the jump. This is perfectly acceptable as long as the athlete passes over the bar and the bar does not fall off, Likewise they can hit the bar as long as it does not fall off. The bigger issue with the pole vault is that the bar may actually fall or pass beneath the bar as the athlete flies over it, again something that is perfectly legal(not very desirable however) |
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Further I really don't think that there is a real problem with judging the world record. Perhaps the jumper could have cleared a greater height but the point is did they clear the bar at the set height in a competition. |
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jhom has a very good point. Some athletes prefer to win by just barely surpassing the world's record. That makes it easier for them to then beat their own record months or weeks later at the next meet. |
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Wasn't it Sergei Bubka who kept his name in the sports headlines for years by upping the world pole vault record meet after meet, a few centimeters at a time? He obviously had the ability to wipe out the old record by a large margin but chose to gently nudge it higher each time to keep himself in the spotlight. |
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The other thing is that the rules of the events mentioned all take the bar into account. The whole point of the events are to clear the bar - as opposed to whomever jumps tha highest. |
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That's not say I don't support an idea with lasers and precision and a mention of beer... (although drop the popsicle - let's not get ahead of ourselves) |
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I am generally in favour of the (very bakeable)idea, but only to give an indication of the actual height.
I believe that the spirit of the discipline would be compromised by the level of tech that could be questioned.
Either the bar stays on or the bar gets knocked off. If you both get over it then you have to clear an extra 30mm which winds up the tension.
That is the sport!. |
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//Your plan has a problem in that in the traditional high jump(less so in pole vault) the competitors body parts may actually pass beneath the bar as they execute the body gestures required to achieve the jump.// |
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While it would not be possible to judge the degree of force with which the jumper would have hit the 'bar', determining the highest bar the jumper could have cleared without touching should not be difficult. Each beam in the light curtain should track whether it has been broken (independent of those above and below). While there may be several groups of unbroken beams, it should be visually obvious which group is the highest one the contestant's body cleared. In most cases just seeing which beams were broken would be sufficient (if there are two groups of broken beams, one of which is 4" and the other of which is 24", it's pretty clear the contestant's body didn't go through the 4" group). Even in cases where it would be necessary to check video, there wouldn't be any 'close calls'. It would be absolutely and completely obvious where the contestant went. |
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I disagree. If your arm flashes momentarily under the 'bar' obscuring the beam at points between 1.6m and 1.9m, but your body cleared the 'bar' obscuring the beam at points 2.0m - 2.4m, things might become contenstible...especially if the beam at 2.6m - 3.0m was broken (possibly by a flailing other arm). |
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Now, is that record set at 1.99m or 2.59m? |
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[texticle] You forgot the beams broken by your little track shorts that would normally have just brushed across the bar. |
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Tradition. Tradition that is so firmly entrenched, that it is very, very difficult to dislodge. |
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Personally, I like the bar to remain. If only to retain the sense behind the expressions like "clearing the bar" "raising the bar" etc., which have nothing to do with the place where drinks are quaffed by diverse persons in divers stages of intoxication. |
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Maybe I am just a purist but we don't need electronics in world wide competitive sporting. There is nothing wrong with using electronic equipment to measure the performance of the athletes but it should not be part of the sporting equipment. The laser beam is fine for measuring their actual height but that is not what the competition should based on. Just like with the runners- they electronically calcuate their times but the man that's first to break the finish line tape is indeed the winner. |
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[Jscotty], it would be nice, though, to redefine a flat sprint to see who got up to the fastest speed within distance x. Not to replace the hundred meters, just as another event. Or super imposed on the event itself. Maybe lasermetry could offer insights ontop of the actual traditional event. Like eagle eye for cricket. I recall a certain Cricket World Cup where breaking the 100mph barrier became something of a goal for the fast bowlers, regardless of the game. |
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BTW, I'd like to see the hammer-fired starter pistol replaced with an electronically-interlocked one tied in with the foot blocks. To avoid any arguments about whether a runner jumped the gun, interlock the gun so it won't fire if a runner moves first. If the runner moves and the gun doesn't fire, there would be no question but that it was a false start. |
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Well, Jones, with that sale you certainly
passed through a higher laser than anyone
has before, which sets a new standard of
achievement for your coworkers. |
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More interesting if the bar were replaced with a high powered CO2 laser, and poly-cotton track shorts with instantly flammable celloid. A spectacular event for the extreme sports channel. |
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