The purpose of this investigation was to develop and validate mathematical models of the sprint relay race. Two approaches, a classical exponential approach and a "new" polynomial approach, were chosen for implementation. Archival film of a 100 m sprint was used to gather displacement data for the first 60 m of the race. Filming had been performed with a single highspeed 16 mm cine camera (LOCAM) at 50 fps. The coordinates were digitized, scaled and filtered using a low pass, critically damped, 4$\sp{\rm th}$ order, zero-lag Butterworth digital filter with a 1 Hz cutoff frequency. Linear velocities were calculated using finite differences. A sprinter was modelled in two ways. The first was an Exponential Model which required as input a personal best time for the 100 m race and the sprinter's maximum constant velocity. The second was a Polynomial Model which required as input the parameters mentioned in the Exponential Model and, additionally, the displacement coefficients for the first 60 m of the 100 m sprint. Relay software was developed to piece the sprint relay together using the corresponding exponential or polynomial approach. The results indicated that the relay software reasonably simulated the kinematic and temporal quantities of a 4 x 100 m relay and can be used by coaches to gain insight into the sprint relay without risking injury to their athletes. Furthermore, the Exponential Model, using less information, described the sprinter's kinematics better than the Polynomial Model.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:uottawa.ca/oai:ruor.uottawa.ca:10393/7745 |
| Date | January 1992 |
| Creators | Murphy, Stephen D. |
| Contributors | Robertson, Gordon, |
| Publisher | University of Ottawa (Canada) |
| Source Sets | Université d’Ottawa |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis |
| Format | 70 p. |
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