If you’ve been following the Rio Olympics coverage you’ll know that Michael Phelps has just won his 21st gold medal. It is without a doubt a phenomenal achievement and one that now places Phelps 12th on the gold medals list for the past four Olympics – 12th out of all competing countries, that is! What you may not know however is that he couldn’t have done it without help from one of the most unlikely of sources, Swiss watch brand Omega.
Excellence In Olympic Timing
Omega has been the official timekeeper of the Olympic Games for as long as I can remember – since 1932 for those who like to be precise. As you might expect, a huge amount of planning goes into each Olympics and a lot of high-tech equipment is specially developed to make the timekeeping process as accurate and as fair as possible. This becomes all the more important when you consider the level of precision required – for example Phelps only won his 21st gold medal in the 200m butterfly by four one-hundredths of a second. Not much room for error there. So, how do they do it?
Fortunately Omega has supplied us with the below infographic that handily explains how Michael Phelps’ historic win was accurately timed in three precise steps:
Keep in mind that this is just small part of the 450+ tons of state of the art technology and equipment Omega supplies for timekeeping purposes at the Olympic Games. This is a massive undertaking for the Swiss watchmaker and one that they evidently take very seriously.
Given all this it’s not surprising that Michael Phelps shows love for Omega even when he’s not in the pool, rocking a Seamaster Planet Ocean Master Chronometer Chronograph for his daily wear. Maybe it’s time they made him a special edition version in solid gold?
For more information please visit www.omegawatches.com.
