Olympians tracked by tiny computers

Skiers' performances at the Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City are being tracked by tiny computing devices.

They are worn around the skier's ankle and consist of a small chip which signals information to the judges.

Once the skier passes a responder under the snow, the chip emits a signal to a centralised computer, giving information on the skier's speed and location as well as their name and number.

However, the organisers in charge of the technology said they still are using the traditional method of photo finishes to determine who has won the race because the transmitter is not accurate enough to provide an exact result.

The technology is being used at the Winter Olympics for the first time, although other sports, such as Formula One, have already used it.

The chip will be used in the cross-country, biathlon and Nordic combined disciplines at the skiing courses in Utah.

The officials are also trialling speech recognition technology. People can ring a computerised hotline with a query on weather, results or even traffic information, at which point a machine will provide them with the details.

Bob Cottam, the man in charge of IT at the Winter Olympics, told US wires that the infrastructure for the games is supported by over 300 IT professionals all-year round, but during the games, the number goes up to 1,300.

Most of the Olympic organisation's staff are supplied by systems integrator Schlumberger Sema, but during the event itself the numbers are topped up by people from Sun, Gateway and Xerox.

Cottam said the Olympics is a unique event in IT terms and said at times running the network "can be quite stressful".