or1980v2pt1

The Video-Recording
System
Although TV cameras have long
and widely been in use in the study
and training process, their introduction
into refereeing has been retarded
by certain IFs. But closed-circuit systems
of referee video-recording were
used during the Games of the XXII
Olympiad in track-and-field, gymnastics,
rowing and canoeing, cycling,
weightlifting, judo, wrestling, swimming,
diving and yachting (at the
Montreal Olympics it was used in
track-and-field, rowing, cycling and
swimming events).
The referee video-recording systems
made it possible to reconstruct
any episode in the contest with conventional
or rapid speed, as well as
with stops. They allowed referees to
take more substantiated decisions in
debatable situations, while members
of the appeal jury could analyse their
correctness.
Work on developing the closedcircuit
TV systems included the following
stages:
analysing suggestions made by
firms and selecting technical facilities
(with a view to using them after the
Olympics);
working out methods and regulations
for referee video-recording the
competitions in accordance with the
IF rules;
selecting and training specialists.
Specialists from Soviet research
institutes and workers at sports organisations,
as well as enterprises in
Moscow and Leningrad, were invited
to join forces in developing these
systems.
The specialists decided to equip
the systems with hardware made by
the Japanese firm Akai Electric Co.
Ltd. As an official supplier to the
Games the firm provided the OCOG-80
with 62 portable video-taperecorders,
52 colour and 6 black-and-white TV
cameras, two apparatus for electronic
clipping of recordings, and various
accessories.
The Soviet-made colour TV sets
Elektronika Ts-430, Shil-Yalis and
Rubin-714 were used for viewing
video-recordings.
Specialists from the All-Union Research
Institute of Physical Culture
(AURIPC) and similar Soviet institutes
with an extensive experience in this
field were entrusted by the Organising
Committee with working out methods
and regulations for referee videorecording
the events.
The system was serviced by 74
specialists, divided into groups to work
at various sports installations.
The total volume of videorecordings
came, time-wise, to 730
hours.
208
Sports Gear and Equipment
There were more models of sports
gear and equipment (909 types) used
at the Games of the XXII Olympiad than
at any previous Games. In athletics,
for instance, practically all the shotputs
existing at the time, manufactured
by the world's leading firms,
were represented for the first time
ever. Thus, male athletes had five
models to choose from (three of them
came in five different diameters), and
women could choose from three models
(each of which came in four
different diameters).
There were 12 models of men's
javelins, all of which were of the
gliding type with a flight range from
60 to 100 m (models with a flight
range of 100 m were used for the first
time). Women could choose from ten
available models (with a flight range
from 45 to 70 m).
Discus and hammer throwers had
the same choice: both men and
women had nine discus models to
choose from, and there were seven
hammer models for men.
Stands with turning targets, fitted
out with what was principally a new
automated system, were used for the
first time in the 25m rapid pistol fire
events.
There was a new Soviet-made
model of the weight used in weightlifting,
with rubber-covered coloured
discs.
The gymnastics apparatus (except
for the asymmetric bars and floor
boards) for the first time in the Olympic
history was manufactured just by
one country, the Soviet Union.
The Organising Committee asked
the international sports federations
concerned for their opinion on the
balls to be used in the volleyball,
basketball, handball, football, water
polo and field hockey events and
received lists of models approved or
sanctioned by them, as well as of the
recommended manufacturers of these
balls. It then conducted talks with
these firms about the deliveries conditions
for these balls and from the
competitive offers made concluded
the corresponding agreements.
The only exception were the handball
and football federations which
supplied models of balls they themselves
had selected.
In connection with the International
Yacht Racing Union's decision to
make available to those taking part in
the Olympic regatta not only centreboarders
of the Finn but also of the
470 Class, the OCOG-80 began building
these yachts at the experimental
shipyard in Tallinn.
In view of the US Ministry of Trade
ban imposed at the beginning of 1980
on the export of goods made by