Watches
OMEGA’s Olympic Timekeeping - complete in the City of Light
| 2024-08-12 |    |
At the close of the Olympic Games Paris 2024, the Official Timekeeper OMEGA is looking back on another history-making year, with a competition full of memorable results and records.
For the 31st time since 1932, OMEGA was on hand to measure every moment, which included 329 events across 32 different sports. Backed by 92 years of experience, and with the most advanced equipment in sports timekeeping, the Swiss brand had everything required to fulfil the task. This included 550 timekeepers, along with 350 tonnes of equipment and 900 trained volunteers to ensure the operation ran smoothly.
Over the course of two action-packed weeks, the timekeeping team measured every result, all recorded within the iconic venues of Paris 2024, such as the Eiffel Tower Stadium, the Grand Palais, and the Château de Versailles.
And some performances made a particularly notable impression. 132 Olympic Records were measured during Paris 2024, as well as 38 World Records.
One of OMEGA’s most notable moments came in the Men’s 100m final, where Noah Lyles of the USA won the race by the tightest of margins. He and the eventual silver medallist clocked the exact same finishing time of 9.79 seconds, meaning that OMEGA’s photofinish camera was required to determine the results. As the image proved, Noah was fractionally ahead to take the gold medal.
Other highlights included
The four swimming gold medals won by Léon Marchand of France, who also set four new Olympic Records and claimed an additional team bronze medal.
The double backstroke gold medals in the Women’s 100m and 200m, won by the swimmer Kaylee McKeown of Australia, who set new Olympic Records in each event.
And the new 6.25m World Record in the Men’s Pole Vault, reached by Mondo Duplantis of Sweden.
In terms of technology, OMEGA was equipped with an arsenal of advanced equipment, including iconic technology such as its swimming touchpads, electronic starting pistol, and athletics starting blocks. In addition, the new Scan’O’Vision ULTIMATE photofinish camera was on hand to capture 40,000 images per second on the finish line of races.
OMEGA is currently on course to complete 100 years as Official Timekeeper of the Olympic Games in 2032, when the event will be held in Brisbane, Australia. Until then, Milano-Cortina 2026, Los Angeles 2028, and French Alps 2030 are already on the horizon.
