Today marks the 5th day of the 2024 Paris Summer Olympics. Immediately, I thought of countless blogs I could write about the intersection between math and sports. From real-time analytics to biomechanics, in sports, math is everywhere.
While scrolling through the daily news, I came across this awesome article published by the New York Times titled “Why Some Olympic Swimmers Think About Math in the Pool.” The article introduces Dr. Ken Ono, a mathematics professor at the University of Virginia. Alongside Olympic swimmer Kate Douglass, he has devoted much of his career to “measuring and analyzing the forces [swimmers] create as they swim” in order to optimize their movements.
A Game-Changing Approach
Andrew Wilson, a math student and walk-on swimmer at Emory University, became a primary test subject for Ono. Attached with devices as he swam, Ono captured nearly 512 snapshots of data per second, assigning a number to how effectively Wilson swam.
Ono was able to identify areas Wilson could improve, and soon, Wilson shot up from being a walk-on to the Division III national champion, showcasing the power of mathematics!
The Result
Soon, seeing the results of Ono’s work, others started to incorporate math and data collection into their training. One swimmer even said that a major reason he committed to swim at the University of Virginia was because of their use of math.
Another swimmer, two-time Olympian Paige Madden, said that using different mathematical tools in her training provides her with a mental edge over other swimmers. Incredible!
The work continues in the training of many swimmers and other athletes. The article highlights that Dr. Ono worked with other mathematicians from the Norwegian School of Sport Sciences to create a similar data analytics process using accelerometers for cross-country skiers.
Conclusion
The use of math in sports, I believe, acts as one of the subject area’s most important and influential uses. By tying the two together, athletes and their supporters are encouraged to study and use different metrics and statistics. Whether they realize or not, this only creates a passion for math!
Math: the backbone of modern-day athletics.