Swimming time scoring?

Question

how do they score swimming times for the olympics. how do they get it so exact to the hundreth second? Is there a button or something underwater to stop their watch? does someone click a stopwatch? how?

Answer 1

I'm in swimming and they have these at all meets there's a touchpad that they use.  It's called the colorado timing system.  It's actually is an amazing system.I love watching them put it together b4 meets.   There's a million little things and you have you make sure that they're in the right spot or the pad might not work.  That happens sometiumes at my meets. But if you want more information you can try these sites:

http://www.colotime.com/

http://www.ctswim.org/ctswim/Howto/Timin...

Answer 2

There are timing pads in the water, and when a swimmer comes into the wall they hit the pad, which stops their time. This is what one type of touch pad looks like- http://www.coloradotime.com/pdf/Touchpad... they sink this in the water for the swimmer to touch. Basically when the starter hits the start button and all the swimmers start, the computer starts the time for everyone, and the touch pad tracks how many laps need to be done, so the pad knows when to stop the time. There is also a backup button that somebody pushes when a swimmer comes into the wall just in case they don't come into the pad and hit it hard enough.