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Measurement vital in sports-BOBs official |
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BY KEDIREBOFE PELONTLE
Metrology -the science of measurement , has been hailed as important as it ensures equality and fairness in all sports. it could be measurement of time, distance, weight, mass, to determine if one becomes a record breaker especially at the Olympics, where a difference of 0.001 second could separate the best from the rest.
Director of Commercial Enterprises at Botswana Bureau of Standards, Keeper Morgan said this year’s World Metrology Day theme Metrology Measurement in sport was relevant t as the Beijing Olympics are expected from 8th -24th August this year. Morgan was speaking at a media briefing in Gaborone as part of BOBS’s aim to create awareness to inform the public about the importance of measurement in sport.
He said the theme was an initiative of SADC regions, they came up with a relevant theme to all member states and the theme was later adapted at an international level.
He said distance is a vital thing in the designation of swimming pools due to the impacts of thermal expansion in the rulers and rods. “It is therefore essential to choose a material that expands very little.” Morgan said an Olympic swimming pool must be 50 meters long with a tolerance of 3cm expansion but no rule for contraction.
Morgan said mass is also an important measurement in Olympic Games such as weight lifting. He said Olympic weightlifting rules require weighing machines to be accurate to 0.005%, “in many sports, if an item of equipment is a few grams heavier or lighter than specified, the athlete could be disqualified, so accurate weighing machines are essential”. He cited shot put as an example of a sport affected by mass.
The other vital aspect of measurement in sport is pressure. Morgan said standardizing the pressure in footballs and volleyballs ensure they behave as the players expect. He said the pressure inside an Olympic football is 180, saying that is affected by the pressure of sea level, or above sea level which depends on the pressure of air and its temperature.
He cited a case of the Olympics that were held in 1998, Mexico, which he said were the typical Olympics held at the highest elevation at 2300 meters above sea level, saying at that altitude, atmospheric pressure is about 25% less than sea level, and athletes from lower-lying countries suffered from the lack of oxygen, which leads to collapsing. Morgan said the normal atmospheric pressure at sea level is about 100 thousand Pascals.
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