At first glance, the spectacular conclusion of the men’s singles competition at the Australian Open may seem to suggest that Rafael Nadal is still clueless when it comes to playing the tireless Novak Djokovic. However, there is a difference to Nadal’s game this year compared to last. Nadal, former world number one, surrendered 6 defeats […]
It’s 2012 and it’s Olympic year. What do the public think of science and sport?
Well, 2012 is here. At last. It’s been a long wait and it seems like we’ve been talking about 2012 forever. For anyone involved in elite sport it is like a switch has been thrown – I’m only on the periphery and it’s manic so it must be crazy for those at the centre of […]
Is the safety of sports people being compromised in the pursuit of success?
Our third guest blog article comes from one of the students from our University and concerns the safety of motorsport, specifically in Indycar and Moto GP. Are speeds to high to be safe? Do speeds need to be high in order to maintain a vibrant fan base? It would be great if you could contribute […]
The Trouble with Oscar
Over the past couple of years I have been quite busy speaking about the role of technology in disability sport at numerous science festivals and conferences. South Africa’s ground breaking decision to select the bi-lateral amputee, Oscar Pistorius, to compete at the IAAF World Championships in South Korea has prompted me to finally write a […]
Swimsuit ban will affect world record progression
FINA changed the rules on swimsuits on 1st January 2010. This effectively banned full body polyurethane swimsuits which had been blamed for the overwhelming number of world records in the 2008 Beijing Olympics and the 2009 Rome World Championships. Nunzio Lanotte wrote a guest blog on this very subject and concluded that perhaps we shouldn’t […]
Power Measurement in the Weights Room
In what seems like no time at all we have our second guest blog ready for consumption (if you fancy writing something get in touch). This piece discusses a piece of sports technology to measure power in weight lifting, enjoy! “Power is the most desired physical quality for a number of sports because it entails […]
Extreme temperature could influence ball properties at the 2022 World Cup
The host nation for the 2022 World Cup will be Qatar, a desert country where temperatures in June and July can reach 50 °C. I find it hard to even imagine that level of heat, let alone play football in it! The extreme temperatures are of obvious concern. So, alternative measures are being considered to […]
Guest Blog: Shanghai 2011 revisited
This is EngineeringSport’s first guest blog! We are very pleased to present Italian Sports Engineer Nunzio Lanotte’s piece on performance increases in swimming. We now have the requisite infrastructure to accept guest submissions, so if you would like to submit something please get in touch via our contact us page. Shanghai 2011 Revisited The Swimming […]
The problem of the Wimbledon roof
The comments made about the new roof over Wimbledon’s Centre Court have puzzled me. The Wall Street Journal and the Times had the headline “Wimbledon Roof Slows Balls Down” while the Daily Mail had “How Centre Court’s new roof puts a dampener on Andy Murray’s serve” (I admit that I’m quoted in this one). One […]
Premier League Relegation: the Wheel of Fortune
Well, it’s all over. And what an amazing day it was. It was exhausting trying to work out who was staying up and what the scenarios were. Here is what happened drawn as a polar time plot of the 5 teams that were in danger of relegation.
Engineering Sport 