Canada has yet to win an Olympic gold medal on home soil but some engineers at the University of British Columbia are doing their best to change that.
While athletes around the world have been bracing themselves for the 2010 Games in Vancouver, a team of UBC engineering students has been hard at work improving the equipment and accessories used by members of various Canadian Olympic teams.
Under the tutelage of UBC chemical and biological engineering professor Savvas Hatzikiriakos, this medal-minded team of students has undertaken countless investigations into the physics of sport in hopes of increasing Canada’s medal total.
Hatzikiriakos’ expertise in the field of physics prompted the Canadian Olympic Committee to recruit him and a select crew of PhD students to explore ways to give Canadian athletes an additional boost in sports ranging from ice hockey to luge.
“Five years ago, the Canadian Olympic Committee came to us with an idea to help Canadian athletes by developing better equipment,” Hatzikiriakos explained. “We did actual experiments on the slopes and in the arenas, and the findings are directly implemented into these Olympic games.”
The committee invested approximately $400,000 in this research. However, Hatzikiriakos said he has no intention of stopping once the closing ceremonies conclude and the torch is extinguished.
“We are looking forward for more sponsors to build on what we have developed so far. We already have some ideas and are looking forward to the next Olympic Games. We have some new surprises.”
With state-of-the-art equipment at the disposal of Canadian athletes, it will be a healthy balance of brawn and brains that will hopefully bring gold to the Great North in just a few short weeks.