Sport: Top 10 tech takeovers

The swimming world championships wrapping up tonight have seen the sport pitched into a maelstrom of farce and controversy over the large number of world records broken by swimmers wearing the hot, new speedsuits. The records will stand but the sport's credibility has taken a dive - and the Herald on Sunday sports team detail 10 other examples of technology changing the shape of a sport.

10. Sprinting
Prior to the 1930s, it was illegal to use any mechanism that helped gain a better start in track events.

Back then, both the 100m and 200m - or the 110 yards and 220 yards as they were – tended to be won by the runner with the best pick up. No one started particularly well because it was hard work getting into your running without
anything to spring from.

The decision to make starting blocks not only legal but compulsory has seen the world record drop dramatically over the years and also seen a change in the typical body shape of most sprinters.

The bulkier, explosive athlete has become the norm, as they can blast out of the blocks and get into their running that much quicker than the longer-levered sprinters of yesteryear.

Starting blocks have also created the opportunity for the introduction of sophisticated timing equipment that can detect false starts. - Gregor Paul

9. Cricket
The principles of bat-making have remained the same: raw clefts of English willow, finely shaped by skilled pod-shavers.

But machine presses and advanced handle-and-splice technology has increased the sweet spots in bats to such a degree that the boundaries on many grounds are made obsolete.

John R Reid, New Zealand's finest big-hitting batsman of the 1950s and '60s, once told this newspaper that he found it hard to take it seriously when"top edges were flying for six".

Still, bat technology is one of the reasons why 400 is the new 300 in one-day cricket. - Dylan Cleaver

8. Sailing
The America's Cup has nearly always been about technology and design as much actual sailing. The current courtroom shenanigans afflicting the sport are among the darkest days of the Cup - but they are not without their fascination, as with the February 2010 date for a clash between BMW Oracle's giant trimaran and Alinghi's giant catamaran.

The trimaran is so fast and so big that, when it is aquaplaning, lifting one or two of its hulls out of the water, the crew must wear helmets.

This beast of a boat is apparently capable of doing 40 knots in a 20-knot breeze so anyone falling off at a height of about 40 feet is going to be hitting water like concrete - and at pace.

Alinghi 5 is also capable of zipping along at twice windspeed or faster and has already stirred controversy by incorporating an engine to trim sails or maybe shift ballast.

This has drawn some snarls from sailors who believe having power aboard a competitive yacht is blasphemy.

However, the America's Cup has always provoked debate over such things and, when this is all over, we will likely be no closer to the answer to the question: Is the Cup about sailors or boats? - Paul Lewis

7. Javelin
Javelin rates as one of the few sports where technology has been employed to make sure the athletes performed worse. The problem was that many top throwers had become so adept that the aerodynamic shape of the javelin made it liable to fly - and fly...

By the mid-1980s, some were able to hurf it more than 100m, which was a danger to officials, other athletes and even the crowd.

At least one official and one long jumper have been speared by errant javelins.

Its centre of gravity was moved forward 4cm, which meant the spear would tilt back to earth sooner. In 1984, the world javelin record was 104.80m.

Sensibly, world track and field's governing body, the IAAF, decreed that all old records would be expunged and started again.

The world record in 1986, after these changes were made, was 85.74m. It is now 98.48m. - Paul Lewis

6. Cycling
There was an irrefutable logic to Graeme Obree's thinking in 1993. He looked at his washing machine completing 1200rpm and thought the bearings would be ideal for the bike he was constructing for a tilt at the world one-hour velodrome record.

His innovations didn't stop there. He built his bike with straight handlebars, pulled them closer to his seat and ended up cycling in a unique tuck position.

On his first attempt at Francesco Mosser's record of 51.151km,he failed by more than1km.

Having booked the velodrome for 24 hours, he took the unusual step of drinking pint after pint of water so he that woke regularly through the night for toilet breaks, after which he would stretch.

With barely any sleep, he hopped on his bike - known as 'Old Faithful' - and broke the record. Mosser then changed the set-up of his bike to adopt a similar racing position and set a personal best.

The Union Cycliste Internationale had seen enough and decided to ban the position. When Obree later returned with the so-called 'Superman' position, where his arms were fully extended, that was also banned. - Gregor Paul

5. Swimming
The speed suits currently plaguing swimming are perhaps the worst example of technology running away with a sport but swimming has had other controversies.

Technology proved that it was faster to travel underwater than on top of the pool - so some backstrokers developed a powerful underwater backwards dolphin kick.

US swimmer David Berkoff revolutionised the kick in 1988, breaking the world record three times in a few months as he perfected swimming underwater for 35m before surfacing. Berkoff didn't invent the technique but he was the first world-class swimmer to stay under for so long.

As the stroke approached farce - he or she with the best underwater technique, not the best backstroke, won – FINA finally stepped in and ruled that underwater backstroke could apply only for the first 15m. However, there is still a question mark in the minds of many as to its place in the sport. - Paul Lewis

4. Formula 1
The whole premise of F1 is that it remains at the sharp end of technology but even the technophiles had to agree that traction control, brought in at the 2001 Spanish GP, was a change for the worse.

An electronic system that prevented wheel-spin, it meant drivers could hammer the throttle without fear of destroying their tyres - F1 driving became more like PlayStation.

It was gone by the time the 2008 season began, as the sport tried to put more responsibility in the hands of the drivers.

It hasn't necessarily resulted in better racing but it is a start. - Dylan Cleaver

3. Tennis
The Wimbledon final of 1982 was a classic, one to remember. Jimmy Connors beat John McEnroe in five sets and it was brilliant. But it was also memorable for being the last final where neither player used a graphite racquet.

That all changed the following year when McEnroe cleaned up with his Dunlop Max200G. That was the game changed forever.

Tennis ceased to be about touch and finesse. It became a power game overnight, as the bigger racquet heads enabled players to hit the ball at phenomenal speeds.

Serves were suddenly pounding down at 225km/h. If you could serve, you could win.

Everyone could play from the baseline, stand back and boom the returns, knowing the racquet not only put pace on the ball but also made it easier to control. - Dylan Cleaver

2. Baseball
Pre-1920 or perhaps more to the point, pre the emergence of Babe Ruth as the game's preeminent personality, baseball was a vastly different game - so much so that it was later renamed the 'Dead-ball era'.

Home runs in the vast ballparks were rare and instead teams relied on stolen bases, bunting and hit-and-runs to advance runners. Batting averages across Major League Baseball dropped as low as .239 in 1908 and the Chicago White Sox, one of the best teams in baseball that year, hit just three home runs.

However, in 1919, things began to change. Ruth hit 29 home runs for the Boston Red Sox and owners and the sport's bosses saw how that mobilised the fans. A new yarn was used to wrap the ball, making it 'livelier' and far more balls were used in each game (pre-1920, one ball could be used for up to 100 pitches).

Ruth and the new balls changed the way the game was played, with the emphasis shifting to power, a trend that would reach its apotheosis with the 'steroid era' of the 1980s and '90s. - Dylan Cleaver

1. Golf
Probably the sport most changed by technology in recent years, golf has seen its equipment almost outstrip the very courses it is played on. At championship level, golf courses have had to be lengthened or otherwise toughened to prevent the pros from making them redundant.

You can now buy golf balls engineered for length, spin, soft landings, for fades, for hooks... for just about everything. Take one home, it'll probably make the tea and rub your feet as well.

For ordinary golfers, the changes are mostly confined to the extra length gained with new balls, outsize drivers and new clubs, including the new 'rescue' clubs used so effectively for reasons other than rescue by Tom Watson in the last British Open. Such clubs had not even been heard of a few years ago and golf is always struggling to keep up with the technology advances of manufacturers.

It is championship golf where the advances are clearly shown. Tiger Woods even uses a ball specially configured for him and which is not available commercially.

Golfing great Gary Player was talking confidently about 400 yard and even 400m drives a year or two ago and, while that might be a little fanciful, golf will always be in the forefront of technological change. After all, it originally came from a rock hit with a stick. - Paul Lewis