A nice Winter Break
Blog vol 6.30. A nice Winter Break.
Where we live in Southern Ontario, we have experienced a taste of the North since December, lots of snow and polar temperatures, where we find out that -40 is the same in Celsius and Fahrenheit. Wiarton Willy did not see his shadow so apparently, we can expect an early spring. In the meantime, we have the Olympics from Milano/Cortina to our screens any time of the day, lots of sports that you haven’t heard of like the two-man luge and ski mountaineering. Most of the competition on the hills involves the competitors travelling at crazy speed to cross the finish-line first.
The margins in these sports are in the hundredths of seconds and make for great drama with the stakes so high. One thing that you see in almost all the events is the use of some form of eye goggle or cage to protect the eyes and provide ramped-up visual perception.
Downhill skiing goggles protect the eyes from snow, and more importantly, have filters that enhance the contours of the terrain. If it is a sunny day, the skiers will opt for a very dark filter to reduce as much glare as possible. UV rays are a big problem in snow and ice, and filters for UV A and UV B are a must. If the weather is overcast, then the filter is changed to yellow or amber to still filter glare but keep illumination levels high. If you, as a non-Olympic athlete, want a single full purpose lens for all conditions, then a rose-coloured lens is best.
The Olympic athletes have it all down to a science, measuring the light with light meters and crafting the perfect lens. There are also different designs of goggles: some enhance downhill viewing, some allow for a spectacle insert, most are designed to reduce fogging. Then it is a matter of fit and comfort.
The athlete’s vision must be at peak performance, especially in an event like the biathlon, where the athlete must fire a rifle to hit targets, then ski cross country. The required rifle is a .22 calibre with open sights (no scopes) though a dioptric adjustment is allowed on the back sight to correct for your prescription. The targets are at 50 metres and a miss results in a time penalty. The hope is that while skiing the sights are not damaged so that you can also shoot straight at the end. The trick is to fire your rifle flawlessly, control your breathing, and ski like a demon, piece of cake.
Of course, we have to talk about hockey. The women wear a full cage for eye and face protection, and the men wear at least a visor. At high level play, visual demands are intense and processing is split second. It is one thing to deliver a saucer pass (where the puck is lifted at the right height and speed on to a teammate’s stick), and another to see an obstacle in space and get around it. Excellent 3D perception skills, timing, and hand-eye co-ordination are essential. The speed is unreal.
All these moves and visual perception skills are honed and their execution will make the difference between 5th place and a gold medal. (Note, a bit of puck-luck involved here.)
“Go Team Canada!”
Til next week,
The good doctor
