Aquatic timing systems are designed to automate the process of timing, judging, and scoring in competitive swimming and other aquatic sports, including diving,

water polo Water polo is a competitive team sport played in water between two teams of seven players each. The game consists of four quarters in which the teams attempt to score goals by throwing the ball into the opposing team's goal. The team with th ...

, and

synchronized swimming Synchronized swimming (in British English, synchronised swimming) or artistic swimming is a sport where swimmers perform a synchronized choreographed routine, accompanied by music. The sport is governed internationally by FINA (the ''Fédérati ...

. These systems are also used in the training of athletes, and many add-on products have been developed to assist with this process. Some aquatic timing systems manufacturers include

Colorado Time Systems Colorado Time Systems (CTS) is an American company based in Loveland, Colorado that designs, manufactures, sells, and services aquatic timing systems, scoreboards, LED video displays, and related products. History Colorado Time Systems was born ...

, Swiss Timing (Omega),

Daktronics Daktronics is an American company based in Brookings, South Dakota that designs, manufactures, sells, and services video displays, scoreboards, digital billboards, dynamic message signs, sound systems, and related products. Founded in 1968 by ...

and

Seiko , commonly known as Seiko ( , ), is a Japanese maker of watches, clocks, electronic devices, semiconductors, jewelry, and optical products. Founded in 1881 by Kintarō Hattori in Tokyo, Seiko introduced one of the first quartz watches and the ...

History

Prior to the 1950s, competitive swimmers relied on the sound of a

starting pistol A starting pistol or starter pistol is a blank handgun that is fired to start track and field races, as well as competitive swimming races at some meets. Starter guns cannot fire real ammunition without first being extensively modified: Blank ...

to start their races and

mechanical Mechanical may refer to: Machine * Machine (mechanical), a system of mechanisms that shape the actuator input to achieve a specific application of output forces and movement * Mechanical calculator, a device used to perform the basic operations ...

stopwatch A stopwatch is a timepiece designed to measure the amount of time that elapses between its activation and deactivation. A large digital version of a stopwatch designed for viewing at a distance, as in a sports stadium, is called a stop clock. ...

es to record their times at the end of a race. A limitation of analog timekeeping was the technology's inability to reliably record times accurately below one tenth (0.1) of a second. In 1967, the Omega company of Switzerland developed the first electronic timing system for swimming that attempted to coordinate the physical the recorded time. This new system placed contact pads (known as Touchpad) in each lane of the pool, calibrated in such a fashion that the incidental water movement of the competitors or wave action did not trigger the pad sensors; the pad was only activated by the touch of the swimmer at the end of the race. File:Gpspool 3022.jpg, Diving Template.

Meet Manager Programs

Meet Managers are programs created to automate the process of generating results and can be either downloadable or web applications. They are normally sold to clubs and can also be connected to the timing system to obtain timing information automatically.{{Cite web, title=ACTIVE Swim - Meet Manager Swimming Software, url=https://www.activenetwork.com/swim/solutions/swim-meet-management, access-date=2021-04-17, website=www.activenetwork.com Some meet manager developers include Active Hy-Tek, Geologix, SwimTopia, NBC Sports and Bigmidia.

References

Sports equipment Sports officiating technology Timekeeping

History

Meet Manager Programs

See also

References