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CoolHand writes:
"Sci-Tech Today talks about the role of technology in the Olympics from a unique perspective:
Every advance in the ever-accelerating juggernaut of sports technology threatens to widen the divide between Olympic haves and have-nots. Well-sponsored teams and rich governments pay top-end scientists and engineers to shape their skis, perfect their skates, tighten their suits, measure their gravitational pull.
I'm no luddite, but this seems to make these sports more about who can afford the best tech, and less about the true spirit of the games: bringing the best athletes from all countries together to compete. How can it be about the athletes, when some of the best athletes may never win due to lack of funding/tech?"
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It's not reality that's important, but how you perceive things.
(Score: 2, Informative) by carguy on Tuesday February 18 2014, @09:27PM
Going back to the early thread on car racing, even in NASCAR there is a great deal of engineering behind the scenes. While the cars are controlled very carefully to be similar, most of the winners come from a few top teams. These are the teams with large engineering staffs (50-100 engineers). The same teams also receive engineering assistance from the car manufacturers.
Watching from the inside (as a nerd), it does get a little frustrating when the NASCAR marketing does its very best to hide or deny the effect that engineering has on the results. But we do have a big effect on the outcomes.
Back to your bobsled example, the US bobsleds have had a lot of input from Geoff Bodine, a NASCAR driver who brought in his engineer friends to help.