When thousands of highly trained athletes descend on Japan this week for theTokyo 2020 Paralympic Games , they will be welcomed by a veritable army of technological experts there to endorse any and all Paralympians in their gold - medal striving efforts .
This supporting group is different from , say , thepit crewof a NASCAR driver , or the grip gurus who o.k. - melodic line clubs for professional golfers , or the cycle mechanics that fall out Tour de France cyclist , or the equipment managing director for an NFL team . In truth , the tech teams go to the Paralympics are a passel dissimilar .
They are prosthetists and fabricators , welder and builder , doctors , scientists and artists , all versed in the challenge of provide the very best equipment for some of the most discreet athletes in the world .
Without these backup player , without their expertise in engineering science , the Paralympics as we know them could n’t be .
Tech and the Paralympics
Technical and scientific advancesthat meet many orbit of the Paralympics — prostheticsand wheelchair building , for two of the more seeable unity — have enable more parity - athletes to contend at high levels now than what was consider possible even just a few short years ago . carbon copy fiber " steel " prosthetics have allowed amputee and those with humbled - pegleg limitations to ladder races faster than ever . particularly project chairsfor paralytic athletes — along with improved training methods — have translated to earth record .
Balls that emit noises so that visually impaired athletes can vie , superlight bicycles , wheelchairs that can take the validity of a para - hoops game — and can be careen on their wheel by savvy player to give them a little more room to get off a blastoff or forget one — are just some of the in high spirits - tech equipment that Paralympians will rely on in Tokyo .
" These are unbelievable athletes . They ’re breaking boundaries . They ’re doing things that humankind have never done before , " say Jeff Waldmuller , a prosthetist with German prosthetics companyOttobock , which suffice as the Paralympics ' official technical service partner in Tokyo . " And with that , they ’re testing the bound of their equipment . Anything from prosthetics to specialized biking or wheelchair equipment , to what ’s used in the track and line of business events … Those thing are going to break . It ’s our responsibility to mend them for all athlete , no matter what nationality they are . "
Waldmuller , who lives and works in Salt Lake City , will be among the slews of technician work retentive hours in Japan to keep the Paralympians on the playacting field . According to Ottobock , this squad behind the Paralympic athletes is await to transmit out some2,000 fixture during the Games . They ’ll have more than 17,000 superfluous parts on deal . They ’ll have 3 - D printers . In all , they ’ll have almost 20 tons ( 18 metrical tons ) of equipment and machinery to take care of the athletes .
Not every athlete comes to the Paralympics toting the best and latest equipment , either . The proficient supporting group is rouse with taking whatever equipment that athlete have — a years - older orthotic , a wobbly prosthetic , a bike with hundreds of mi on it , a creaky wheelchair — and making it as good as possible so the athletes can retain to compete .
Assistive Technology
Assistive technology has become topnotch - specialised . Here are just afew examplesof how engineering is used in Para sport .
Striking a Tech Balance
As with any equipment in just about any sporting event — balls , uniforms , engines , bat , sticks , goals , you name it — Paralympic equipment is regulated . The International Paralympic Committee ( IPC ) has a insurance that details four basic principles when it comes to the often tech - advancing equipment used by Paralympic athletes : It has to be safe , affordable and available to a sufficient number of athletes , influence to ensure fair-mindedness , and it ca n’t be more important than the jock wielding the tech . From the policy :
Each sportsman detail the regulation for equipment . Because each Paralympic play can haveseveral different classifications of athletes — Paralympians are placed in specific groups calculate on their strong-arm or genial stultification — the regulations regarding equipment can get reasonably complex . The goal remains the same , though : To use technology and equipment to even the playing area as much as possible and let athletic ability determine winner and losers .
Waldmuller , 37 , has been well involved in para mutation for more than a 10 . When he was 24 , he was involved in a traffic accident that result in a partialamputationof his leg . in short after , he began to compete in para sports with the hope of making it to the Paralympics . He never made it to the Games as an athlete , but he ’s there now , thanks to his work as a prosthetist . With Ottobock , he bring home the bacon a " real domain connection " between engineers and clinician working on raw types of prosthesis .
His respectfulness and admiration for those who will compete in Tokyo is unbridled .
" The heavy difference , I think , between capable - bodied versus adaptive jock … most adaptive athletes have a sight more heart . They can really force the limit . Many have seen what genuine bother feel like . They can push past that threshold of pain and tolerate it , " Waldmuller says . " And then they ’ve always been secernate , ' You ca n’t do this , you ca n’t do that , ' so they have this drive to promote so much further . That ’s what makes adaptive athletes so incredibly knotty . It ’s really more about that than the engineering science . "
The Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Gamesbegin Aug. 24 and conclude Sept. 5 .
