The show will go on! Tokyo Olympics 2020 will be the stage for hard trained athletes for whom have been dreaming to compete all their lives, to put on their greatest act of will, determination and human spirit.
339 events in 33 sports will be competed in Japan, this includes brand new sports for the Olympic Games, including karate, sport climbing, surfing, baseball/softball, and skateboarding, all organised under strict Covid compliance as assured by the Olympic committee. Ensuring the sports runs smoothly and on time, Swiss watchmaker Omega once again steps in as the official timekeeper for the Olympics.
Omega has a long standing history with the world event, it will be partnering for the 29th time dating back to 1932! The brand has been involved with the Olympic Games for nearly every edition since, many of the timekeeping innovation seen today harks back to early days of development with the sport body. During the 1932 game, when the watchmaker was appointed, the brand sent one watchmaker all the way from Bienne to Los Angeles, armed with 30 high-precision stopwatches that were accurate to the nearest 1/10th of a second.
It was London when the term photo finish took another meaning all together, two of the greatest revolutions in sports timekeeping made their first summer appearance at the Olympic Games in 1948. This was the beginning of the “electronic era” when technology began to outperform the capabilities of the human eye. Amongst OMEGA’s technologies were the first photofinish camera, pinpointing exact finish positions in races, as well as the first Photoelectric Cell, which electronically stopped the clock as the first athlete crossed the finish line. Precision had never been better!
There were many moments captured and cherish throughout the Olympic Games, but of its the human capacity that will forever be etched in history. Now, at Tokyo 2020, the world needs a diversion and also unity, both that surely be observed at the Games. Capturing these moments and recording them to the millisecond’s will be Omega’s 400 tonnes of its most trusted and state-of-the-art equipment.
