Can ‘Project X’ help Lolo Jones win Olympic Gold?
VIDEO - Four years ago, in the Beijing Olympics, American hurdler Lolo Jones was the favorite for the gold medal...
Four years ago, in the Beijing Olympics, American hurdler Lolo Jones was the favorite for the gold medal. Unfortunately, her stride was broken by the ninth hurdle. NBC’s Nightly News reported that Jones is training in Oregon to be on the US team for this summer’s London Olympics. Jones and her team are using high tech equipment in order to break down her form and shave time off of her race.
Project X, created by Red Bull, uses 40 specialized cameras to create a 3D computer model of Jones that they can slow down and speed up to view Jones’ form. The software catches precise movements of Jones’ body that can not be seen by the naked eye in an attempt to keep turbulence at a minimum.
“By making a slight change of 5 degrees of her lower leg versus the surface will decrease the breaking effect and give her an extra couple of hundreths of a second.” said one of the members of the Project X team.
I may seem like a lot of technology and work for a hundreds of a second difference but according to Jones “It makes a huge difference in a race where we can lose by just a thousandth of a second.”
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