Innovations in sport
The success of the Olympic Games Melbourne 1956 can be attributed in part to a series of technical and sporting innovations and developments.
Melbourne 1956 saw the introduction of a semi-automatic, digital-display timing device in the swimming pool. Developed by OMEGA and called the Swim-Eight-O-Matic timer, it was built in cooperation with FINA, the governing body of world swimming, and recorded finish times without the need for a timekeeper. Prior to its development, three judges were allocated to each lane to track finish times manually. OMEGA improved its Swim-O-Matic technology over the next two decades. Introduced at London 2012, the Quantum Aquatics Timer – its current swimming timekeeping technology – is accurate to a millionth of a second.
New technology also made an appearance in fencing, with the introduction of the electric foil. Installed on each track, this electrical apparatus made it easier to score bouts. A double wire ran from the unit through the fencer’s jacket and sleeve to the foil. A contact at the tip of the foil triggered a light to signal a touch on the opponent’s body. There were problems with the technology, however, with any fluctuation in current causing a non-valid white light to come on. The system has been greatly refined since then. Modern-day Olympic fencers now wear a conducive T-shirt inside their jackets. When they are hit, a transmitter attached to their waist is activated, triggering a light on the mask and sending a signal to the arena scoreboard.
Meanwhile, the points scoring system was introduced in modern pentathlon to replace the points-for-places system, in which the athlete with the lowest score was declared the winner. Athletes were now allocated points for their performance in each discipline, with their overall scores determining their final position in the competition standings. The points system is still in place today.
Melbourne 1956 took place shortly after Australia’s first television broadcasts. The channel TCN 9 Sydney was the first to air, on 16 September 1956, followed a few weeks later by HSV 7 Melbourne and ABN 2 (the Australian Broadcasting Corporation’s station in Sydney). By the end of the year, one per cent of Sydney residents and five per cent of Melbourne residents owned a TV set.