Let's not forget metal woods and golf ball technologies.

AlsoContact lenses have had a major impact as well.

the cage, wrestling will never be the same now that we have the steel cage match

Long before the Cream and the Clear, there was...GH, DBol, Winstrol and about every other combination of Steroid and Growth Hormone.

The curved stick in hockey (with honorable mention to the goalie's mask) ... the fibreglass vault pole ... the batting helmet in baseball ... and let's not forget Lester Hayes' "stickum"

breakaway rims are pretty safe

Rear engine race cars. It completly changed Indy, Formula 1 and drag racing.
Let's not forget Kevlar - from quarterback flak jackets to ballistic hockey skates, to 10 lb racing kayaks and rowing shells.
Or carbon graphite in Olympic style arrows and other uses that have dropped POUNDS off the equipment.

the ball

The ice skates that made all speed previous skating records obsolete...whatever year Bonnie Blair dominated

Short surfboards (6'1) with three fins as opposed to long (10'0)log like boards with one fin. Surfing has progressed exponentially since the "Shortboard Revolution" of the 60's and Simon Anderson's tri-fin of the early 80's.

Preferring to stay with only legal, technical innovations, clap skates had as dramatic of an impact on speedskating as the new Laser swimsuits have on swimming.

Tommy John surgery let a lot of guys keep pitching, I'd say more important than ACL surgery.

definitely metal woods in golf. even tiger couldnt hit 280 with a wooden wood

the aluminum bat

Carbon fiber and wind tunnels in cycling and auto racing

The cup.

how about the use of carbon fiber in golf club and hockey stick shafts...an advance that definately has increasted shot speen and drive distance.

the 'klapschaats' (clapscate) in speedskating on ice

Hinged ice skates were introduced at the winter olympics in 1998. The skate was hinged at the front attachment to the boot to let the skate stay on the ice longer so there is more push-off force from the skater than a traditional skate. It helped to break a lot of speed skating records. The sad part with this one (and the new Speedo suits) is that not every competitor could use them because of the cost and availability, which creats an unequal playing field.

Tommy John Surgery?! ridiculous oversight

tommy john surgery?! No ACL w/o this first. ridiculous oversight

The continual upgrades in bowling ball technology have been unbelievable. It's amazing what you can make those things do today.

One name... Tommy John...

cleats

The clap skate had an almost identical effect on speed skating in the 98' Nagano Olympics as the speedo lzr swimsuit is having in Bejing...every race is a world record.

The baseball glove? Cleats?

how about the football helmet not like the old leatheads

front shocks on a mountain bike

GATORADE!!

Carbon/fiberglass pole vaulting poles

How about the overbearing coverage of TV and how it's ruining sports...Sunday Ticket only on DirecTV where prices are skyrocketing...Fox Sports ruining every playoff game imaginable..Lets start Baseball Playoff games at 8:45 PM EST and then the game lasts 4+ hours because in the playoffs, you get 3 minutes in between innings instead of 2 because you can get more commercials in...Super Bowls now starting at 6:50 PM...TV Timeouts every 7 minutes....Granted watching events in HD is great, but dealing with elongated Pre-Game shows and over extended games is getting ridiculous....

I am thinking the protective cup was absolutly the most important sports related technological advance ever.

LASIK

arthroscopic surgery,(knee and shoulder) and advances in orthopedic techniques in general

The Zamboni. By the way any reference to bowling technology would be incomplete without the little button that signals the waitress for more beer.

Let's take Speedo's Olympic Swim suite off the list. There are too many changes to the pool to give the suite that much credit.

"I'm talking about deep water," Gaines explains. "It's a perfect depth because if it's too deep, you lose your sense of vision and where you're at in the pool. But it's just deep enough to where the waves dissipate (and) the turbulence dissipates down to the bottom."

The Water Cube pool also has 10 lanes instead of eight. Waves churned up during races don't bounce back into the swimming lanes. Waves that reach the sides are siphoned off by perforated gutters.

"It's physics and it's not sports, but it makes sense," says Christine Brennan, a veteran of 13 Olympics and an Olympics columnist for USA Today. "You make a deeper and a wider pool, and you ... give all of those waves and all of that splashing and all of that moving water a chance to move away from the swimmers and get out of their way, which makes them go faster. It's as simple as that."

The Water Cube pool is close to 10 feet deep. That's 3 feet deeper than the pools of the past. The lane lines that separate swimmers are called wave eaters because they dissipate turbulent water. The goal is to make the water as flat and clear as possible, despite the churning that swimmers create.



To promote the breaking of swimming world records, the Chinese have optimized their Water Cube pool for speed by: (1) Keeping the water at 80.6 degrees, the temperature considered optimal for swimmers; (2) pumping "microbubbles" into the pool to break the water's surface tension; (3) building the pool to a depth of 3 meters, which prevents water-temperature interference; and (4) introducing a ventilation system that whisks chlorine fumes off the surface of the water, allowing the athletes to breathe clean air.

Many responses seem to miss the "technological" and "most significant" aspects of the inquiry. Although many advancements impacted one or two sports, we should focus on innovations that impacted Sport generally (so, unfortunately, spring floors in gymnastics, shaft technology in golf, clap skates in speed skating and LZR suits in swimming should not be considered). Media coverage, dietary improvements and weight training are the keys. The last two are self evident (remember when Oakley and Barkley were considered "Big Men"? Not today.). Watch Olympic basketball to see the impact media coverage has; the globalization of sport has increased the level of participation and competition (Gretzky once said the best hockey player in the World never laced up skates). Even the '92 Dream Team's success would be much different today.

Electric scoring in fencing . . . action is soooo fast.

How about electric timing in general?

The Hit-A-Way for Baseball...best solo trainer ever changed batting training forever.

Jumbotrons

Hello folks! All-weather track surfaces!!!! Usain Bolt wouldn't be running a 9.69 on cinders.

All-weather track surfaces (Mondo, Tartan, etc.) and FAT (fully automatic timing). Usain Bolt wouldn't be running a 9.69 on cinders!!!!!

What about the "mute" button for every idiot celebrity that has done their version of "take me out to the ball game" at wrigley

stop watches, photo finishes and how about the ever present radio (replaced by TV) announcer

goggles. no one swims races without it today.

Yellow first down lines.

Instant replay is not a significant innovation in sports. It's affect is negligible. TiVo has a bigger impact.

Replace ACL with Toomy John.

The suit? You're joking right? There are at least three innovations that changed golf far more than the suit in swimming. (The club head, the shaft, the ball - and those are very broad) Which make The Golden Bear and Arnie all the more impressive. Besides, an advanced swim suit affects a few dozen people worldwide. How many did Big Bertha affect?

I believe that the ceramic and polymer rackets have made more of an impact than Jimbo's T-2000. But you can have that one.

Then drop the cream and the clear and go with nutrition in general.

How could you ignore plastic helmets and face masks in football? Changed the game. Also, high top sneakers had a big affect on agility in basketball.

The first down yellow marker in football.

The yellow first down line in televised football.. no doubt about it

I just spoke to John Madden and he expressed his opinion in these words. "Brett Farve"

The Internet. Without it, we would not be reading this article or adding our comments.

speciality summer camps
hgh- steroids
doping.
message boards
wakeboard tower try doing a trick without one

Tom Emanski's Baseball Videos .

I think back-to-back-to-back AAU National champions says it all.

First Down Line in Football....the world record line in swimming

24 second clock in the NBA. Before that, the game was considered boring.

the clock

Face mask for football helmets.

Please remove the comment about the 24 second clock. That was a rule change and not an innovation unless the author of that comment thiks telling time was a recent accomplishment.

Material research & engineering. It's most pronounced in lacrosse: all-wood sticks -> plastic heads -> aluminum shafts -> titanium shafts -> carbon fiber shafts.

Similar progressions have had huge impacts on hockey, baseball/softball, cycling, racing, etc. in both performance gear & protective gear.