Aquatic timing system

Aquatic timing systems are designed to automate the process of timing, judging, and scoring in competitive swimming and other aquatic sports, including diving, water polo, and synchronised swimming. These systems are also used in the training of athletes, and many add-on products have been developed to assist with the training process.

Manufacturers
Companies that manufacture aquatic timing systems include Colorado Time Systems, Daktronics, Omega/Swiss Timing, Seiko and Superior Swim Timing.

History
Prior to the 1950s, competitive swimmers relied on the sound of a starting pistol to start their races and mechanical stopwatches to record their times at the end of a race.  A limitation of analog timekeeping was the technology's inability to reliably record times accurately below one tenth (0.1) of a second.  The invention of automatic timing systems brought more accuracy and credibility to aquatic sports.

See also

Fully automatic time
Scoreboards

References

"The Not So Bad Ol' Days", USA Swimming. 
"History - Swimming and Sports Timekeeping", Omega SA. 
"About Our Company", Colorado Time Systems. 
"Olympic Swimming Controversies and Scandals", About.com. 

Category:Sports equipment
Category:Sports officiating technology
Category:Timekeeping