Winning gold needs research and elite sports training

The experiment was kept a closely guarded secret for months so as not to alert Olympic competitors in other countries. It involved four lycra-clad cyclists pedalling at full speed into a 65 kilometre-an-hour headwind inside a large wind tunnel at Monash University in Melbourne.

The highly rated men’s pursuit track cycling team from the Australian Institute of Sport was subjected to the groundbreaking wind tunnel analysis. In a world first, the day-long experiment required the four cyclists to ride at different heights, in different helmets and, crucially for the pursuit team, in different combinations.

Although the Monash wind tunnel is usually used by the university’s engineers to test the aerodynamics of aircraft and cars, in this case the four members of the Olympic team pedalled into strong winds as smoke was blown over their heads to provide visual evidence of how speed and aerodynamic gains could be achieved.

Monash engineer Professor John Sheridan said a PhD student had been working on the wind tunnel project for three years. As a result, new insights had been gained into the resistance force caused by the movement of air over the cyclists.

Sheridan said the experiments enabled the scientists to tell the coaches that if the riders were placed in one type of combination, it would not be as effective as another arrangement because they would experience more drag and, as a result, would not cycle as fast or be able to keep their position as long.

Chief physiologist with the Australian Institute of Sport (AIS), Dr David Martin, said that previously sports scientists had focused on the aerodynamic efficiency of each cyclist one at a time. The wind tunnel experiment, however, allowed the scientists to study the interactions between all four riders simultaneously – and Martin said such testing could lead to big improvements.

The institute collaborated with Monash to conduct the experiment as it does with other universities carrying out research likely to boost the performance of its elite sports people.

In another instance the AIS, Griffith University in Brisbane and a number of domestic and international companies have investigated whether probiotics reduce the number, duration and severity of colds and flu.

A large clinical study conducted at the AIS showed that supplementing daily with Lactobacillus fermentum reduced the severity of gastrointestinal illnesses, and the severity and duration of chest illnesses in males.

A second study is underway to examine the effects of other strains of probiotics in physically active individuals. Early results indicate beneficial effects in reducing respiratory illness.

The institute has its origins in 1973 when John Bloomfield, a professor of physical education at the University of Western Australia, was commissioned by the federal government to investigate sports institutes in Europe and their success in developing elite athletes.

Following the investigation, Bloomfield called for an Australian institute to be established but little happened until 1976 when the nation’s athletes took home just one silver and four bronze medals from the Montreal Olympic Games.

Then the Bloomfield plan began to be taken more seriously, although it was another eight years before prime minister at the time Malcolm Fraser officially opened the Australian Institute of Sport in Canberra with the aim of resuscitating the nation’s sporting reputation.

The AIS started with eight sports – basketball, gymnastics, netball, soccer, swimming, tennis, track and field, and weightlifting – but after the Los Angeles games in 1984, the government announced four more would be added to the list and that other campuses would be set up in state capitals.

Squash and diving were located in Brisbane, tennis in Melbourne and rowing and waterpolo in Canberra, along with the original eight, while weightlifting was dropped. The AIS now offers 36 programmes in 26 sports and provides assistance to athletes through a network of coaches on its sites around the country.

In the early years, the athletes were housed in university residential colleges, and training facilities were so limited that at one stage five different sports were sharing an indoor sports centre in Canberra.

Today, the 65-hectare AIS headquarters site has two sports arenas, an indoor swimming centre, a gymnastics hall, soccer and hockey fields, multi-purpose indoor training facilities and a sport science building.

The facilities and services are also used by touring international teams and overseas athletes, and national, state and regional sporting organisations.

With an annual budget of more than A$300 million (US$307 million), the institute offers up to 700 scholarships a year in 35 disciplines for elite athletes to attend the institute.

Winning a scholarship provides the athlete with top-level coaching, access to equipment, sport science and medical facilities, accommodation, meals and travel, and assistance with education and career planning when their sporting days are over.