High-tech track

A pioneering Dutch training centre is using technology to help athletes understand how to improve their performance

Athletics were the basis for the original Olympic Games and have been the main attraction for this event ever since. But in today’s high-tech world, heavy weights and exhausting training sessions have been replaced by computers and modern techniques to improve athletes and their performances.

The speed, acceleration, oxygen intake and
heart beat of the athletes is monitored

With less than two years until the 2008 Olympics, the National Dutch Athletes Association (KNAU) is making an effort to improve Dutch athletes. Results for Dutch athletes have been good over the past few years but in Beijing the KNAU hopes it will be able to produce an Olympic champion. Every step is therefore being taken to ensure the athletes can benefit from modern tools in their training programmes.

When the Dutch national Olympic committee, NOC*NSF, decided to overhaul its running track at the national training centre in Papendal, it was therefore decided to fit the complex with some of the latest developments currently available for athletic training facilities.

"The complex has now been fitted with a special training slope, an electronic rabbit and an artificial grass practice area," says Stefan Beerepoot from the KNAU. “All of this is to ensure athletes can practice regularly and to reduce the possibility of getting injured," he adds. The complex allows various kinds of athletes to improve their skills. “There is a variety of training equipment and it can be hired by anybody who wants to improve his or her performance, regardless of the specific discipline the athlete is performing in," he says.

As athletes, especially on running track, can suffer from injuries to their knees and their back, the track itself was equipped with a 13mm-thick “sandwich" top layer made of 3mm EPDM rubber on a 10mm thick layer of SBR rubber. “Most athletes practice with spikes, especially during the summer, which hardly give any shock absorption. Practicing five days in a row on a hard surface like that will eventually put a lot tension on the muscles. The new track, as well as the artificial grass area provides shock absorption in a better way and will allow the athletes to practice more comfortably," says Beerepoot.

To further improve the training and condition of the athletes, researchers from the Dutch National Research Institute (TNO) have equipped the complex with some technical devices. “At Papendal we have installed a Global Positioning System (GPS) and a mobile system. Both can be used to monitor certain parameters. It is our intention to also install a camera system which provides visual information in the near future," explains TNO’s Frans Lefeber.

All data is collected in the control centre next to the track

In the control centre next to the running track all data is collected and evaluated. “At the moment all information is gathered in our central computer system via a fibreglass network that was installed last year. This allows us to have prompt access to all data. In the future it might be possible to, should small transmitting devices become available, equip the athlete with a small transmitter. This will allow us to monitor even more parameters."

The equipment allows Lefeber and his team to give coaches and trainers more insight and information on the progress of the athletes. "It is difficult to say how many parameters can be monitored. It more depends on the question of how many parameters the trainer wants to monitor and what he or she is going to do with all that information."

Currently Lefeber and his team monitor the speed, acceleration, oxygen intake and heart beat of the athletes. "The introduction of a very sophisticated GPS system, which is accurate to the nearest centimetre rather than metre, has made it possible for us to use this system. Around the track we have installed several beacons which inform us exactly where the athlete is at a certain moment." The data makes it possible to provide a detailed report of the performance of the athlete and is able to show both athlete and trainer when or where the performance of the athlete is not according to plan. "Combined with the electronic rabbit it is possible to push the athlete to run faster or with more stability."

Lefeber hopes he eventually will be able to include video cameras as well. "Most trainers and athletes prefer visual information. With a video camera we will be able to film their performance and show the data at the same time. That will make it easier for the athletes to see what goes wrong." In addition to that, Lefeber thinks a 3-D modelling system would further improve the performance of the athlete. "We will soon install a system like this at Thialf ice skating stadium in Heerenveen, Netherlands. The skaters will be equipped with sensors on their joints and the system will exactly monitor the spread of those joints. In ice skating this is very important as it affects the air resistance – something which can become important in athletics as well."

With all equipment located at the same place, Lefeber believes the sport has made a major step forward. “Training has become an interactive process and a setup like this allows us to create a training or race situation which comes close to reality." Besides the athletic track at Papendal, Lefeber and his team also work closely together with the Dutch football champions PSV Eindhoven. “In Eindhoven we have created, what we call, a 'future lab'. The knowledge we gain in that lab is combined with what we learn from Papendal and, in the near future, from Thialf. All this information together should help us developing new applications," says Lefeber.

New insights in other sports could be beneficial for athletics too. "With artificial grass getting to a high standard in football one of the main questions is whether today’s footwear is suitable enough. To gather more information on this subject, we are busy developing an application which measures the contact between the foot and floor. The information might then become useful in developing new shoes or sports floors. Not only for football but also for athletics."

Whether the new athletic complex at Papendal will produce an Olympic champion during the 2008 Olympics is hard to say. But, according to Lefeber, ultimately everybody is a winner. "The setup in Papendal is a situation which can only create winners. The university wins as they are able to do their research projects, the industry is a winner as they can develop new and better equipment and sport is a winner as the performance will be further improved."