Won Gold Research Articles

Effects of 3D-printed Customized Gloves on the Performance of Wheelchair Racers

PURPOSE This study seeks to contribute to the enhancement of the performance of domestic wheelchair racers by producing 3D-printed customized gloves and verifying their application effect.METHODS A total of three male wheelchair racers who belong to the T54 and have won gold medals in the National Para Games within the last three years were selected as subjects. Each subject performed three session s of muscle activity and maximum speed measurements before and after applying a 3D-printed glove during the stroke and recovery phases of wheelchair racing, focusing on the pectoralis major (PM), triceps brachii (TB), and erector spinae (ES) muscles. To standardize the muscle activity measurement data, the relative muscle activity level (%) for each section was calculated by maximum voluntary isometric contraction (MVIC) for each subject. All maximum speeds of each round of driving were calculated by the average record for comparative analysis. In addition, to verify the effectiveness of applying the 3D-printed glove, the Wilcoxon signed rank test, which is a non-parametric test method, was performed on all measured values using SPSS 24.0.RESULTS This study derived the following results. First, a statistically significant difference was observed in the muscle activity of each major muscle before and after using the 3D-printed glove. In common, an increase in muscle activity of the PM, TB, and ES was confirmed in the stroke section, and an increase in muscle activity of the TB was confirmed in the recovery section. Second, a statistically significant difference was documented in the maximum speed before and after using the 3D-printed glove. When using 3D-printed gloves, the maximum speed increased by 4.57, 3.63, and 1.06km/h for Payer A, and by 5.9, 6.04, and 7.86km/ h for Player B. In the case of Player C, the speed increased by 6.73, 2.27, and 0.83km/h, and all three players improved their maximum speed through the 3D-printed gloves.CONCLUSIONS Our study suggests that the application of 3D-printed customized gloves can have a positive impact on the performance of wheelchair racers. If the application of 3D-printed customized equipment is extended to athletes in a wider range of sports in the future, this could significantly contribute to the improvement of performance in domestic disability sport.

‘We’ve won Gold!’

‘We’ve won Gold!’

Medals, Rings, and Olympic Dreams: A Review Essay of Antonio Sotomayor and Cesar R. Torres, eds., Olimpismo

Medals, Rings, and Olympic Dreams: A Review Essay of Antonio Sotomayor and Cesar R. Torres, eds., <i>Olimpismo</i>

دراسة لتقييم مستوى الاداء لمشاركة المنتخب الوطني العراقي بكرة الهدف (الجرس) للمكفوفين المتقدمين في البطولات الآسيوية لفترة (2014-2022)

من الاهمية دراسة التاريخ كونه يمدنا بحلول للمشكلات المعاصرة في ضوء خبرات الماضي، ودراسة سلبيات وايجابيات هذه الحلول، وانطلاقا من مبدأ أن ذوي الإعاقة البصرية طاقة بشرية لابد من استثمارها بما يخدم تقدم وازدهار المجتمع، فمن الأهمية تسليط الضوء على هذه الفئة والإسهام بنقل صورة مشرفة عنها، قد تكون دافعا للآخرين ممن اوقفهم انطفاء شعاع النور والبصيرة عن اكمال حياتهم لشرارة امل تعيد لهم شغفهم في الحياة، وتهدف الدراسة إلى: توثيق نشأة كرة الهدف للمكفوفين البارالمبية العراقية، وتوثيق تشكيلة اللاعبين والجهاز الإداري والفني للمنتخب العراقي بكرة الهدف للمكفوفين الرجال المتقدمين في البطولات الآسيوية للمدة (2014-2022)، وتوثيق مشاركة وانجازات المنتخب العراقي بكرة الهدف للمكفوفين الرجال المتقدمين في البطولات الآسيوية للمدة (2014-2022)، ونقد وتحليل مشاركة وانجازات المنتخب العراقي بكرة الهدف للمكفوفين الرجال المتقدمين في البطولات الآسيوية للمدة (2014-2022)، والتعرف على أهم الأسباب والمعوقات التي حالت دون تحقيق المنتخب العراقي بكرة الهدف للمكفوفين الرجال المتقدمين في البطولات الآسيوية نتائج متقدمة. اعتمدت الباحثتان المنهج التاريخي الاستدلالي، بالاعتماد على النتائج التي تم الحصول عليها لمشاركة منتخب كرة الهدف للمكفوفين الرجال فئة المتقدمين في البطولات الاسيوية للمدة من عام 2014م ولغاية عام 2022م، وذلك لملائمة هذا المنهج وأهداف الدراسة، واختارت الباحثتان بطريقة عمدية مجتمع وعينة الدراسة من لاعبي منتخب كرة الهدف للمكفوفين الرجال فئة المتقدمين، وعدد من المدربين والإداريين في الاتحاد العراقي لكرة الهدف للمكفوفين، وبلغ العدد الكلي للمجتمع والعينة 12 بين لاعب وإداري، وهم الذين شاركوا في البطولات الآسيوية للمدة المحددة قيد الدراسة.قامت الباحثتان بالاطلاع على عدد من المراجع العلمية في مجال تاريخ التربية الرياضية ورياضة ذوي الإعاقة والإعاقة البصرية فضلا عن الدراسات والبحوث المرتبطة في كتابة الإطار النظري للدراسة، بالإضافة الى الصحف والمجلات، كما اعتمدت الباحثتان في حصولهما على نتائج المشاركات من المواقع الالكترونية المعتمدة كالاتحاد الدولي لرياضات المكفوفين IBSA والاتحاد البارالمبي لمنطقة غرب آسيا WAPF، اضافة الى ذلك فقد تم الاعتماد على المقابلات الشخصية مع اللاعبين المشاركين في البطولات الآسيوية للمدة (2014- 2022)، وعدد من إداريي الاتحاد وفق استبانة غير مقننة، أعدت من قبل الباحثتين هدفها تنظيم الأسئلة وتبويبها بشكل علمي، للتعرف على المعلومات المتعلقة بمشكلة الدراسة، فضلا عن التعرف على أهم الأسباب والمعوقات التي حالت دون تحقيق نتائج متقدمة في بعض البطولات الآسيوية المحددة قيد الدراسة.استنتجت الباحثتان في ضوء النتائج المتحصلة من الدراسة: أن مشاركة منتخب كرة الهدف للمكفوفين الرجال المتقدمين في البطولات الإقليمية الاسيوية بالمستوى المطلوب كون التنافس مع منتخبات لها باع طويل في هذه الرياضة مع توفر الإمكانيات بشكل أفضل، وإن مشاركة منتخب كرة الهدف للمكفوفين الرجال المتقدمين حققت انجازا عاليا بحصول المنتخب على الميداليات الذهبية والفضية في الدورات الثلاث لغرب آسيا، كون ان لاعبي المنتخب امتلكوا الخبرة في خوض المنافسات على صعيد المنتخبات المشاركة في هذه البطولة، وان توافر ‏الجوانب اللوجستية المتمثلة بالدعم والامكانيات والجهود المبذولة من قبل لاعبي منتخب كرة الهدف للمكفوفين الرجال فئة المتقدمين والجهاز الإداري والفني، ‏فضلا عن الاختيار المناسب في التوقيت والمكان، لزج لاعبي المنتخب في المعسكرات الداخلية والخارجية، كل ذلك أسهم في تحقيق ‏المراكز المتقدمة والإنجاز العالي.في ضوء ما توصلت له الباحثتان من نتائج، جاءت أهم التوصيات: ضرورة تحليل ونقد المشاركات والانجازات ‏لمنتخبات ذوي الإعاقة البصرية ‏في مختلف الرياضات، ‏تحليلا يستند إلى المنهجية العلمية، ‏وذلك لكون أي تطور نسعى إليه في أي مجال كان، لابد لنا من الوقوف على أهم الإيجابيات ومحاولة بذل مجهود اكبر، كما ان عدم تحقيق المستوى المتقدم والمطلوب، يدعونا إلى التعرف على أهم المعوقات والأسباب التي حالت دون تحقيق المستوى المطلوب والإنجاز العالي ومن ثم محاولة إيجاد الحلول الملائمة لها، وضرورة زيادة الاهتمام برياضة ذوي الاعاقة البصرية كونهم ‏يعدون طاقة بشرية خلاقة تسهم في تقدم المجتمع وازدهاره، ضرورة الاهتمام بالدراسات التاريخية لمختلف الفعاليات والحقب الزمنية، كونها تعيننا في وضع الخطط الاستراتيجية والتنبؤ بالمستقبل، والسعي لتوفير كافة المستلزمات من قاعات واجهزة وأدوات حديثة في التدريب، والتي تسهم في الارتقاء بمستوى تدريب كرة الهدف للمكفوفين الى أعلى ما يمكن.

Editorial

Dear friends,&#x0D; We are well into 2022 and it is late for New Year wishes, nevertheless, I hope you will have a happy and healthy 2022. The pandemic has slowed down a little and has so far not put any limits on our work and research. May it end soon in all parts of the world.&#x0D; It has been 100 years since the World Championship in Artistic Gymnastics was held in Ljubljana, Slovenia, in 1922. It was the first international competition for Leon Štukelj who later made history at the OG in Paris in 1924 and won gold medals in the all-around and high bar. The first article in the journal is by French historians Tony Froissart and Thierry Terret. They are analyzing Leon Štukelj's legacy on modern artistic gymnastics. I believe Leon Štukelj would be delighted by their paper.&#x0D; Other contributing authors in this issue come from Brazil, Germany, Japan, Bulgaria, Turkey and Greece. Again, many different aspects of gymnastics are presented.&#x0D; There are new challenges for researchers too. In the middle of October, Flavio Bessi organised International Freiburg Gymnastics Congress online. You can find it at https://www.sport.uni-freiburg.de/en/events/international-gymnastics-congress.&#x0D; Anton Gajdoš and Michal Babela drafted the 23rd short historical note introducing Silvester Csolany from Hungary who passed away in January after a long illness caused by COVID-19.&#x0D; Just to remind you, if you cite the journal, its abbreviation in the Web of Knowledge is SCI GYMN J. &#x0D; I wish you enjoyable reading and many new ideas for research projects and articles.&#x0D; Ivan Čuk, Editor-in-Chief

Granville Coggs (1925-2019) - WWII pilot, pioneering radiologist, and inspiration to minorities in medicine.

Role models play an important role in firing the imagination of medical students and residents, and when it comes to attracting and sustaining under-represented minorities in fields such as medicine, the inspiring stories of minority physicians can make an especially important contribution. One such physician was Granville Coggs, an Arkansas native who overcame a stutter, served among the Tuskegee Airmen during World War II, graduated from Harvard Medical School, became the first black physician at Kaiser Hospital, established the San Antonio Breast Evaluation Center, and won gold medals as a senior track star.

History of the Human Rights: Gender Perspectives

Every human being has certain rights to live with dignity and peace and should not be discriminated. However, history of human civilization tells us there have been discrimination on many counts. Otherwise, there won’t have been words like slavery, untouchability, exploitation, patriarchy existing. Women are no exception to discrimination and exploitation. Human rights of women have been violated, they have been deprived of their respect, economic, social and political status and the basic principle of equality (equality with her counterpart, i.e., men). The question of human rights becomes very pertinent when it comes to gender and gender justice. This has given birth to feminist movements. The author here wishes to testify the march of the human rights of women, the journey and the progress made after struggle by all the feminist movements and more importantly the economic and social status of women in the present era. The author has tried to show how the matriarchy in early development of civilization was demolished and how there was a downfall of women after advancement of patriarchy through the personification of power by men inside and outside of the family. In fact, the notions of property and inheritance put an end to the foundations of matriarchy and consequently they were converted to objects belonging to the father, the husband and the family. The author could also find several other reasons, old customs in the patriarchal society for their exploitation and violation of their human rights. Further the role of U.N. and its organs was very vital and important as the problems of women were considered in their social aspect from time to time. Today we find women in all fields of national life: engineers, doctors, pilot, professors, diplomats, artists who have won gold medals in sports, etc. But it took a very long time to finally see women acceding to highest posts in the Parliament. March of human rights of women is progressing constantly as efforts have been made but a lot needs to be done as discriminations, inequalities, injustice and harassment of all kinds will not disappear overnight.

Building resilience to athletes from Indian Special forces

Performing under pressure or dealing with setbacks, you are on the right lines. Essentially, it is using personal qualities in order to withstand ‘pressure’ ‘Robust’ resilience is probably what most of people are thinking of; holding off an opponent by not letting negative thoughts, emotions or events affect performance. Not too dissimilar is ‘rebound’ resilience, which is the term given to an ability to bounce back from a setback an athlete getting injured right before an Olympics who goes on to win gold at the following Olympics four years later. Simply, those who lack resilience are likely to crumble under pressure and suffer a subsequent rapid deterioration in performance. Conversely, high levels of resilience will protect an individual from the negative effects of pressure, helping to facilitate optimum Performance. A theatre of war is very different to a competitive sporting arena, but there are more similarities than you realise. Both usually involve a battle between opposing teams or individuals; both can have disastrous consequences should one lose this battle; and both require individuals to overcome numerous challenges and set-backs along the way. For this reason, it would appear that the resilience training received by soldiers could also be utilised by athletes and teams. It seems then, that sport can learn plenty about resilience from the military. Military-style training camps are one way sports teams are beginning to improve a number of attributes in order to achieve success. Resilience, teamwork, cooperation, problem solving, and decision making all important attributes that the military teach that sport stars undoubtedly need. Think about it, how many times have you seen a football team race into a 2-0 lead in the first-half, only to lose the game 3-2? A resilient team would be likely to make correct decisions under pressure and see the game out to win. The Indian defence forces both three Army, Navy, Air force, have elite commandos respectively PARA SF, MARCOSE, GARUD COMMANDOS Are able to provide Resilience training. Because Getting selected to be trained as a MARCO it is difficult. And it gets worse. A five-week-long ‘hell’s week’ follows this, which includes sleep deprivation and intense physical training. Those that make it through, or don’t quit on their own, actually proceed to the actual training. The Few the Fearless.

Mass Gathering Surveillance: New ESSENCE Report and Collaboration Win Gold in OR

ObjectiveTo streamline production of a daily epidemiology report includingsyndromic surveillance, notifiable disease, and outbreak data duringa mass gatheringIntroductionThe 2016 U.S. Olympic Track and Field Team Trials were heldJuly 1-10 in Eugene, OR. This mass gathering included over 1,000athletes, 1,500 volunteers, and 175,000 spectators. The Oregon PublicHealth Division (PHD) and Lane County Public Health (LCPH)participated in pre-event planning and collaborated to produce adaily epidemiology report for the Incident Management Team (IMT)during the event. The state and county public health agencies hadcollaborated on surveillance for prior mass gatherings, including the2012 Trials. However, 2016 was the first opportunity to use completestate and county syndromic surveillance data.MethodsPHD staff developed an ESSENCE report, highlighting sevenpriority health outcomes: total emergency department visits; injury,gastrointestinal, respiratory, and fever syndromes; and asthma-like and heat-related illness queries. The report included side-by-side comparisons of county and state time series graphs, a tablesummarizing reportable diseases, and space to narratively describeoutbreaks. PHD staff did a virtual demonstration and in-persontutorial for LCPH staff on how to run the report. ESSENCE accesspermissions had to be modified so that county users could see andproduce state time-series graphs but not data details for non-LaneCounty visits. Emphasis was placed on interpretation of likelyscenarios, i.e., one or two days with a warning that was not indicativeof an incident of public health importance.ResultsDuring the event, LCPH staff were able to run the reportsuccessfully, i.e., there were no technical glitches. For the first fewdays, LCPH staff consulted with PHD staff about epidemiologicalinterpretation. State data were of specific interest since data detailswere suppressed. Additionally, increases were seen in the injurysyndrome in the days preceding the July 4 holiday. Stratification bykey demographic factors and looking at subsyndrome breakdownson warning and alert days provided the needed information withoutrequiring the use of the detail details.ConclusionsAfter the event, there were three main recommendations forimproving the process.LCPH suggested that the side-by-side visualization of countyand state time series graphs was useful to see trends but the relativescale of the number of visits was unclear due to size and placement(see figure 1). Solutions for future reports include additionalexplanatory text, limiting the report to only county data, and alternativevisualizations that highlight the differences in visit magnitude.As part of the IMT process, the LCPH lead felt that her efforts tophysically go to the Emergency Operations Center to run the reporthelped facilitate communication with partners. However, it is notclear if this effort directly translated into IMT use of the report, whichwas posted to the online event management system and not includedin the daily situation status reports. While LCPH leadership and staffreported anecdotally that they found the report to be very useful,no formal evaluation of use was done with either public health orIMT staff. In advance of the next event, state and county staff shouldprepare evaluation metrics.The report feature in ESSENCE is a bit cumbersome to set up, butit allows for easy production of appealing and customizable reports.This template can be modified for future mass gatherings, includingathletic competitions and county fairs. PHD staff will continueto collaborate with LCPH to repurpose and improve the report foruse in Lane and other counties. Fostering local user comfort withinterpreting ESSENCE data and generating summaries for local useis a priority of the OR ESSENCE team.

FRI-17 “WALK LIKE A MAN”: SEX TESTING AND FEMALE GENDER IDENTITY IN INTERNATIONAL ATHLETIC COMPETITION

You have accessJournal of UrologyHistory of Urology: History Forum1 Apr 2017FRI-17 “WALK LIKE A MAN”: SEX TESTING AND FEMALE GENDER IDENTITY IN INTERNATIONAL ATHLETIC COMPETITION Unwanaobong Nseyo Unwanaobong NseyoUnwanaobong Nseyo More articles by this author View All Author Informationhttps://doi.org/10.1016/j.juro.2017.02.2482AboutPDF ToolsAdd to favoritesDownload CitationsTrack CitationsPermissionsReprints ShareFacebookTwitterLinked InEmail INTRODUCTION AND OBJECTIVES During the 2016 Rio Summer Olympic Games, Caster Semenya participated in the 800m finals and won gold. Her win, while a personal accomplishment, also had historical implications. Seven years prior, questions began to be raised about her gender ultimately leading to her temporary ban from athletic competition while she underwent “sex verification testing.” The sex-testing to which she was subjected had a historical precedent. This paper seeks to explore the historical narrative surrounding intersex disorders as the presented in the form of female athletic competition. METHODS A literature review was conducted in PubMed which identified primary and secondary sources regarding “sex testing” and “femininity certificates.” These sources were reviewed in order to evaluate the sociocultural context of sex testing among female athletes in international competition. RESULTS Sex testing began in earnest in the 1950s with the mandatory sex testing of female athletes during the European Championships, although rumblings of questioning the ender of female athletes pre-dated the creation of this mandatory law. In the 1930s, as women became increasingly involved in athletic competition, women's bodies were scrutinized if they appeared too “male-like” or exhibited athletic exceptionalism. Early sprinters such as Dora Ratjen of Germany and Stella Walsh of Poland were driven away from the sport due to claims that they were in fact men. Once testing became official, it consisted of invasive physical examinations, heavily focused on the genitalia as women were asked to “parade nude before a panel of doctors.” Often as a direct response to these athletic community's inquiries into their sexual identity, these female athletes, who were branded as male and termed “hermaphrodite” subsequently underwent surgical reassignment. While testing transitioned to include genetic and hormone testing, the results remained relatively inconclusive and significantly altered the lives of the women on whom they were conducted. CONCLUSIONS Historically, dominant performances by women on the international athletic stage called into question their gender identity. Invasive sex testing was performed and many of the individuals who were investigated would be identified as intersex today. Contemporary discussions of transgender identity add a new layer of complexity to examinations of the intersection of gender and athletic competition as transgender athletes made history in the 2016 Rio Olympic Games by competing without having undergone gender reassignment surgery. © 2017FiguresReferencesRelatedDetails Volume 197Issue 4SApril 2017Page: e1066 Advertisement Copyright & Permissions© 2017MetricsAuthor Information Unwanaobong Nseyo More articles by this author Expand All Advertisement Advertisement PDF downloadLoading ...

The illegal transgression: discourse analysis of the media perception of the transgressive aesthetic of performance and display in top-level sports

The debate over Caster Semenya’s female sex began shortly after the South African runner won gold in the women’s 800 m final at the 2009 Athletic World Championships in Berlin. Her victory was disputed by questioning her right to compete as a woman. Using the theoretical framework of gender and postcolonial theories and the methodology of discourse and dispositive analysis, the paper explores the contextualization of a perceived transgressive, aesthetic, performance and display in the field of top-level sports. The case study analyses the discourses surrounding a non-white, non-male South African runner in eight mainstream Swiss German language print media. The paper argues that the media response to Semenya exemplifies Butler’s claim that the discursive framework of gender constructs and naturalizes sex. A key question is, therefore, whether the assignation of deviant bodies to a ‘field of deformation’ works to pluralize and cross set gender boundaries, or rather, as Butler suggests, calls those bodies into question.

David Stoddart OBE

David Stoddart <scp>OBE</scp>

Anthropometric Characteristics of Elite Japanese Female Wrestlers

ABSTRACT.The purposes of this study were to disclose the anthropometrical characteristics of elite Japanese female wrestlers and to compare them with those of other athletes reported in the literature. To this end, we tested 17 elite Japanese female wrestlers (nine and eight wrestlers, in light and heavyweight categories, respectively), most of who had won gold medals at the internationally recognized tournaments. Body composition, circumferences, and limb lengths were tested based on multi-frequency bioimpedance analysis (InBody 730, Biospace, Inc.) and whole-body scanning system (Body Line Scanner, Hamamatsu Photonics KK). The main results indicate that the participants are characterized as having great FFMI (fat-free mass divided by height squared, 18.8 ± 0.8 in light and 20.5 ± 0.8 in heavyweight groups) with intensely enlarged circumference especially within the arms (30.0 ± 2.7 cm for upper arms and 24.2 ± 1.5 cm for forearms). These findings suggest that elite female wrestlers have site-specific hy...

She's a strong girl

Note from author: We have a long way to go, still, as our Caster Semenya wins gold in Berlin in the 800 metres by a long streak. Penned during the “she's a strong girl” observation by someone inter...

Key success factors for implementing Taiwan TrainQuali System (TTQS) in Taiwanese enterprises

Facing the change of economic environment and the need of enhancing competitive advantages, small and medium-sized enterprises in Taiwan utilize ‘Taiwan TrainQuali System (TTQS)’ on training talents. In order to maximize the benefits of TTQS implementation and increase the training efficiency, this paper aims to use ‘grey relational analysis (GRA)’ to extract key success factors (KSFs) from 46 factors, which influence the implementation of TTQS. Moreover, this study also verifies the KSFs with nine case companies which have won gold medals in TTQS evaluation and sum up 12 concrete practices as references for other enterprises in order to show how to implement the TTQS training quality system better in the future, and in turn enhance the quality and performance of human resource training.

Radiology's Decathlete: The Generalist

Ashton Eaton is the world record holder in the decathlon, having won gold for the United States at the 2012 London Olympic Games. Like many decathletes before, he is not the fastest sprinter, longest or highest jumper, strongest shot putter or discus thrower, greatest hurdler or vaulter, or best distance runner. But as a total package, competing in all 10 events over 2 days, he performs at a higher level than any athlete in history. Emergency Radiologists: At the Crossroads of Specialty and General RadiologyJournal of the American College of RadiologyVol. 12Issue 2PreviewWe read with interest the opinion piece “Radiology’s Decathlete: The Generalist” [1], which extolled the virtues of general radiologists. It should be noted that many of the advantages of the role of the general radiologist are embodied by practitioners of the growing field of emergency radiology. Whether fellowship trained in emergency radiology or in one of the other traditional radiology specialties, practicing emergency radiologists are usually the most experienced and expert in the evaluation of trauma and many other emergency conditions in patients of all ages [2]. Full-Text PDF

Heart-Rate Variability and Training-Intensity Distribution in Elite Rowers

Elite endurance athletes may train in a polarized fashion, such that their training-intensity distribution preserves autonomic balance. However, field data supporting this are limited. The authors examined the relationship between heart-rate variability and training-intensity distribution in 9 elite rowers during the 26-wk build-up to the 2012 Olympic Games (2 won gold and 2 won bronze medals). Weekly averaged log-transformed square root of the mean sum of the squared differences between R-R intervals (Ln rMSSD) was examined, with respect to changes in total training time (TTT) and training time below the first lactate threshold (<LT(1)), above the second lactate threshold (LT(2)), and between LT(1) and LT(2) (LT(1)-LT(2)). After substantial increases in training time in a particular training zone or load, standardized changes in Ln rMSSD were +0.13 (unclear) for TTT, +0.20 (51% chance increase) for time <LT(1), -0.02 (trivial) for time LT(1)-LT(2), and -0.20 (53% chance decrease) for time >LT(2). Correlations (± 90% confidence limits) for Ln rMSSD were small vs TTT (r = .37 ± .80), moderate vs time <LT(1) (r = .43 ± .10), unclear vs LT(1)-LT(2) (r = .01 ± .17), and small vs >LT2 (r = -.22 ± .50). These data provide supportive rationale for the polarized model of training, showing that training phases with increased time spent at high intensity suppress parasympathetic activity, while low-intensity training preserves and increases it. As such, periodized low-intensity training may be beneficial for optimal training programming.

From Foucault to Latour: Gymnastics Training as a Socio-Technical Network

When fourteen-year-old Nadia Comaneci won gold at the 1976 Olympic Games, her youthful appearance inspired concerns about the hard training of young gymnasts. These concerns frequently centered around the coach as a figure of authority with the power to potentially exploit young girls. This paper both confirms and questions this assumption through using an Actor Network Theory (ANT) perspective. It is argued that what has been missing from previous accounts of sports training and competition is the role that nonhumans play. It is shown how existing Foucauldian work examining gymnastics can be extended through demonstrating the Latourian notion that power is enacted through nonhumans. It is further suggested that the inclusion of nonhumans such as video cameras into the gymnastics network can potentially generate different power arrangements from the traditional authoritarian coach/athlete relationship. Latour’s concepts of mediators and intermediaries are used to show how nonhumans can have agency and affect gymnastics performance, demonstrating that power is shared among both human and nonhuman actants.

T-Mobile Treat Van

T-Mobile is well known for great value contracts and deals, but unlike the other ‘proper’ mobile networks, it is not known for its customer loyalty benefits. With a limited budget and compressed timeline, we developed a pilot online loyalty platform: the ‘Treat Van’. Through the platform, customers are offered treats at key points in their lifecycle, based on their value to T-Mobile. The Treat Van pilot succeeded in achieving its objectives of making customers feel valued, reducing churn and increasing customer value and won Gold for Best Use of Data in a Digital Campaign at the DMA Awards 2012.

Developing and Applying a Tri-axial Accelerometer Sensor for Measuring Real Time Kayak Cadence

Cadence measurements are commonly used in sport to give athletes and coaches live and delayed information about the frequency of a repetitive movement. Lisa Carrington won gold at the 2012 London Olympics with a cadence of 70 double strokes per minute in the women's K1 200 Canoe Sprint, while Mahe Drysdale won gold in the Men's Single Sculls rowing final with an average cadence of about 35 strokes per minute. These numbers, while interesting, provide important feedback to the athlete about whether they are performing within the cadence range that is most efficient and will provide them with the greatest performance. In cycling, pedalling at low cadences, 60rpm vs. 100rpm, reduces gross and physiological efficiency [1] while too higher cadence [2] causes suboptimal muscular coordination. Non-optimal cadences may also be linked with injury. For example, in rowing [3], high cadence may change pelvic motion, leading to low back pain symptoms. A tri-axial accelerometer was programed within an electronic circuit to compare kayak paddles movements against set acceleration criteria indicating the completion of a stroke. Upon identifying a stroke, this information was used to calculate the frequency of completed strokes per minute. This frequency information was then transmitted via ANT+TM protocol, received and displayed on an ANT+TM compatible device (e.g. Garmin's Forerunner or Edge GPS watches). A case study demonstrating the application of this technology to kayak performance training was observed. The coach set distances for athletes to train over, with varying cadence requirements while aiming to maintain the kayak's speed. The rationale for this type of cadence based training was that by fixing cadence and asking the athlete to manipulate speed, improvements in stroke length and technique were required.