The Proof: Omega Finally Releases Phelps Photo Sequence

92 Comments

S5S5S5, on 08/24/2008, -3/+63News from the future:
As the 2040 Olympics get under way, Omega, in collaboration with Microsoft, Google, Adobe, and the MIT physics department used the Large Hadron Collider to construct a temporal backward-in-time looking lens to release never before seen images of the Phelps/Cavic race. Even though there wasn't any dispute of the results, scientists working on the project stated that in the next decade they will be able to prove that Phelps won the race on a quantum level. Meanwhile, the Chinese deny any speculation that their current gymnastics team's unusual appendages attached to their bellies are umbilical cords.
WordsnCollision, on 08/24/2008, -1/+50I guess that's why they use touch pads, since the naked eye can't discern such tiny differences.
acis1, on 08/25/2008, -0/+46Can't see ***** captain.
diemunkiesdie, on 08/24/2008, -2/+42Those pictures are too small to be able to CLEARLY see what they are talking about.
greedycheese, on 08/25/2008, -5/+40While this photo is inconclusive, the underwater photos are clear. Phelps won.

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/multimedia/photo_ ...
zeblith, on 08/25/2008, -0/+25No fair! They're going to change the outcome by measuring it!
Oea420, on 08/25/2008, -1/+25maybe they could set up some kind of pad to know when you touched it
dawgma, on 08/25/2008, -2/+24Why the hell aren't there high speed cameras installed at the bottom of the pool and zoomed in on the touch pad of each swimmer? What's with all these distant overhead shots that are obscured by water splashing and even the edge of the pool itself? There has to be better video of this.
Shootfast, on 08/25/2008, -1/+21But you'll ruin the results by measuring them!!
Jonmad17, on 08/25/2008, -2/+21Phelps won, Cavic lost. Get over it.
zephyr226, on 08/25/2008, -0/+15Dara Torres lost by 1/100th as well, but nobody calls that one into question.
aaronhoffmeyer, on 08/25/2008, -0/+13Cavic had the race won five feet from the finish but coasted. Phelps took one more stroke and forcefully hit the touchpad. The sensors in the touchpads immediately recorded Phelps touching first.

The touchpads require 6 lbs of pressure to register that the swimmer has touched the wall. Because Cavic was coasting, it took at least one hundredth of a second for his momentum to trip the sensor. Phelps smacked it on his last stroke, a final stroke that Cavic did not take.

Swimming coaches the world over will use that race as an example of what happens if you stop paddling too early.
nottanner, on 08/25/2008, -3/+15Following that logic, this can also be said:

The Chinese gymnasts all have passports saying they're 16. Get over it.
Singularitarian, on 08/25/2008, -1/+12What is the definition of "finish" in a race like this? The definition is: get that sensor to register your presence. Michael Phelps did this before his opponent.
Hergio, on 08/25/2008, -0/+10Here is a definitive set of underwater photos:
http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/multimedia/photo_ ...
tahcoboy, on 08/25/2008, -0/+9nope :)
Exhibitionist, on 08/25/2008, -0/+9Here's the only photo I can find which appears to show Cavic on and Phelps off:

http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_CD0JETuihEE/SKlQY05uYvI/ ...
KnightMareInc, on 08/25/2008, -0/+8those pics are terrible. The slow mo vid NBC showed the next day was much better
aaronhoffmeyer, on 08/25/2008, -1/+8There is a much better video and NBC has been showing it for a week. The video was shot from the bottom of the pool and it clearly shows Cavic coasting while Phelps smacked the touchpad.

The touchpad does not lie, and the underwater video shows Phelps applying force on the touchpad while Cavic is barely touching it.
ryanhayn, on 08/25/2008, -2/+8Omega finally releases Phelps thumbnail sequence.
shazzb0t, on 08/25/2008, -3/+8http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/multimedia/photo_ ...

What the hell are you morons talking about? Cavic's fingers had not even touched the pad yet. Seriously, welcome to a week ago. Phelps won. Get over it.
santaliqueur, on 08/25/2008, -2/+7Their margin of error is smaller than your hate for Phelps. He won.
inactive, on 08/25/2008, -0/+4The difference was a 0.01 of a second. I would never expect to see clearly who touched first, they will always look as if they touched at the same time.
zantos420, on 08/25/2008, -1/+5has anything changed? any awards reversed? exactly.
pharmacide1, on 08/25/2008, -1/+4You mean like this one: http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/multimedia/photo_ ...
kylere, on 08/25/2008, -0/+3Why do people whine about the rules after the fact, every four years one side or the other complains about the electoral college, then it is promptly forgotten for 4 years. Same thing with the Olympics. Now is the time to change things.
Pixelpaws, on 08/25/2008, -0/+3If you had sufficiently high resolution pictures taken from a high-speed camera, it would be possible to tell the difference. However, the technology involved would have to vastly exceed what the human eye can normally perceive to make it obvious to us. This is why they use the touch pads.
tmjdisorder, on 08/25/2008, -7/+10It's a little unsettling to me that the official timekeeper of the Olympics sponsors athletes. Omega should be replaced as official timekeeper due to this clear breach of ethics which calls into question the legitimacy of the games. Would you want to be a defendant in a trial where the judge has money on you losing?
crossmr, on 08/25/2008, -0/+3The touch pad could lie then.. if Cavic got there first but didn't apply enough pressure it could have registered Phelps first. with that slight variance, any hesitation on his part in apply enough pressure would have changed the outcome.
RetlawST, on 08/25/2008, -1/+4It's an automated system. Unlike Diebold, Omega is pretty open with how it works and the timers are installed by the IOC.
BurnTees, on 08/25/2008, -0/+3from TMQ on ESPN: http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/page2/story?page=ea ...
"In other Olympic news, the timer said Michael Phelps swam the 100-meter butterfly in 50.58 seconds, Milorad Cavic swam it in 50.59 -- can anyone seriously believe either finished one-hundredth of a second different from the other? The timer said Britta Steffen swam the 50-meter freestyle one-hundredth of a second faster than Supermom Dara Torres. Tenths of seconds are absurd enough, as Tuesday Morning Quarterback noted a few months ago. A hundredth of a second is too fleeting to have any common-sense relevance, let alone decide an athletic event; and this is setting aside whether a mechanical device splashed with water (the touch pads) can be accurate to the hundredth of the second. Yet numerous clocks in Beijing show hundredths of seconds, as if these splinters of time can be measured meaningfully. Reader Fred Ruonala notes that as the Phelps result was announced, one of the NBC announcers said viewers could "clearly see Phelps touched first." Now Olympics announcers can perceive hundredths of seconds."
bashnu, on 08/25/2008, -0/+3The question is, if there was a shark, who would be eaten?
gravedigga, on 08/25/2008, -0/+3photoshopped
username7410, on 08/25/2008, -0/+2Those pics are crap. The still frames from NBC clearly show Phelps one.
strevoir, on 08/25/2008, -1/+3Give me a microscope pls!
Myztry, on 08/25/2008, -0/+2Who cares. Time for a game of two-up (flip the coin). They're both obviously amazing swimmers...
bzaks, on 08/25/2008, -0/+2Unfortunately, it does actually. Those pads are not intelligent and a certain level of force needs to be applied to them. Phelps won because he kept swimming and slammed into the pads where as Cavic just tried to glide in to them.
worminater, on 08/25/2008, -1/+3maybe prove that he didnt win moreso than proof he won; as he activated a mechanical switch first?
00Wang, on 08/25/2008, -0/+2Even if they touched at the same time, as some people are arguing, Phelps still would have 8 golds, one shared with Cavic.
tehsars, on 08/25/2008, -2/+4Conclusive photographic/video/touchpad evidence > pieces of paper posing as evidence.
crossmr, on 08/25/2008, -4/+5Yeah..really clear..one photo they're both not touching it, in the next photo they're both touching.
***** scientifically sound.
RetlawST, on 08/25/2008, -1/+2I swear, every time you post, something stupid is birthed into this world. Does the concept of a pool confuse you? Do you even know how the event works?
xiphoris, on 08/25/2008, -0/+1You are correct. Touch pads don't produce the "most desirable" outcome in all circumstances, but they are fair in the sense that the same rule is applied to everyone mechanically, infallibly. The "most desirable" outcome in my mind would be one where the race is decided by the first person to *touch* the pad at all, not necessarily with 6 lbs of force.

I was a solid swimmer in high school. During the league finals, two other swimmers and I came in within a few tenths of a second in the 100 free. I thought I had come in first, but my time showed me as .3s slower, putting me in third place. These races are also timed by 3 people with hand timers, though. My coach contested the touchpad time as incorrect. The referees reviewed the touchpad time and found it was about .3s higher than the average of the human timers. Ref threw out the touchpad time, giving me the average human time, winning the league race and setting a new school record.

Those touchpads do require a lot of force, you have to get a bit of your body behind it. It's not a "pad" but a movable plastic paddle. The best touchpad would be one that requires the merest touch of the fingertip -- that would provide the most fair race. However, until something like that is developed, touchpads are the best solution because they are fair and much more accurate than humans. I effectively screwed up in that race, by not practicing to hit the pad well enough. It's something athletes should consider as part of the race, for now. You've got to finish well in swimming or lose .10 or even .30s off your time.
counterplex, on 08/25/2008, -0/+1Just tweak the Heisenberg compensator to account for the observation error and you should be fine.
crossmr, on 08/25/2008, -1/+2Which shows nothing..they're both touching and in the previous photo they're both not..
Tek12, on 08/25/2008, -0/+1The article, had you read it, says that it takes 3 kilos of pressure to trigger the device. Any less and waves would trigger it.
shazzb0t, on 08/26/2008, -0/+1Actually no it doesn't show both touching. Cavic's left hand, which is also the one stretched the farthest, has not reached the wall in my photo. Meanwhile, Phelps hands are clearly on the wall. Notice how you can see the white tile of the wall between Cavic's hand and the black part of the wall? He had not even touched the wall at that point.
freshyill, on 08/25/2008, -0/+1Those extremely low-resolution images make this an open and shut case! Seriously, when will the ***** news sites realize that people want to see detail in images?
omegacheats, on 08/25/2008, -2/+3Omega claims to have 1000/10000 fps HD cameras under water. Yet, manages to release some 5 pixel photos shot from different angles and call this evidence. Sure, i believe this.
BTW, does anybody have any frames from HD recording of that swim? It was broadcast in HD i assume
Moszir, on 08/25/2008, -4/+5“Omega can’t stop the time." lol, they surely can, just as i can stop my wristwatch by pulling a stick.

And Omega being a sponsor to Phelps, and being the timekeeper is a bit much ^^
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