TECHNOLOGY
ALL ABOUT THE SCIENCE
In 2008, UK Sport formed a technology partnership with BAE Systems to support Britain’s Olympic and Paralympic athletes. The contract was renewed in August 2013 and will run until the Rio Games. Tom Walker speaks to Kelvin Davies, BAE’s project leader for the partnership
TOM WALKER • MANAGING EDITOR • SPORTS MANAGEMENT
the run up to the Sochi and Rio Olympic Games, following the announcement that defence specialist BAE Systems will continue as UK Sport’s official research and innovation partner until 2016. The partnership will see BAE offering
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athletes access to its cutting-edge technology and providing scientific inno- vation in the areas of training, recovery, injury prevention and competition – as well as equipment development. Taekwondo, cycling and pentathlon
were among the sports which benefit- ted directly from BAE’s support ahead of London 2012. Exact details of cur- rent projects in the run up to Sochi 2014 remain confidential, but include identi- fying sports where marginal gains can be achieved through the use of special- ly-developed materials and research into aerodynamics. BAE’s project leader Kelvin Davies does reveal, however, that the same technology used to develop the world’s most advanced jet fighter – the Eurofighter Typhoon – is being used to improve the racing speed of the Great Britain bobsleigh team.
BIRTH STORIES First launched in 2008, the partnership was, according to Davies, born out of a number of factors. “There were lots of catalysts and a lot of people involved in making it happen,” he says. “A particular
reat Britain’s elite athletes can again look forward to being supported by a world-class engineering programme in
BAE has contributed to the design of competition-standard wheelchairs in sport
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Amy Williams with ‘Arthur the sled’ – a gold medal winning team at Vancouver 2010
Issue 3 2013 © cybertrek 2013
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