Olly Timing can now routinely deliver more accurate times for younger or inexperienced swimmers at major touchpad timed events.
Touchpads are considered the gold standard in timekeeping yet they are only routinely accurate when used with elite swimmers and regularly maintained.
Touchpads trigger when the inbound swimmer applies sufficient pressure. ‘Soft touches’ often do not trigger, causing either a missing time, or a slow time if the swimmer later applies more pressure.
Traditionally backup timekeepers have been used to spot soft touches. When using Olly Timing there are no backup timekeepers. Olly Pad Check has been developed to quickly identify soft touches and ensure the correct time is recorded.
Introducing Olly Pad Check
Olly Pad Check uses 2 different methods to spot soft touches and ensure the correct time is recorded for a swim.
First, Olly compares the touchpad time against its own AI generated time, and flags if there is a difference out of normal range. See below, the pad time (left) is compared with Olly AI time (right) and the difference calculated. Where this exceeds +/- 0.30s it is highlighted red.
Second, Olly publishes an image of the finish of each lane at the pad recorded finish time. The operator can visually spot any significant differences. See below, the image from the data above. Note that the swimmer in lane 3 is very close to the wall at the pad finish time, indicating a possible soft touch.
When a possible soft touch has been identified the operator will check the official backup time from Olly and, if out of normal range, replace the pad time. See below the previous image with the lane 3 pad time changed to the official backup time from Olly.
Here is another example. See below the swimmer’s soft touch initially resulted in a pad time 1.54s slower than the correct time.
Olly Pad Check uses these 2 different methods to ensure maximum speed and minimum errors. The design may evolve in future.
Operating with Olly Pad Check
Olly Pad Check runs in parallel with Olly Timing. The initial comparison of pad times against Olly AI occurs in real time for each lane once each swimmer finishes. This allows any significant differences to be immediately investigated before slower swimmers finish. Once all swimmers in the heat have finished then the visual image displays.
When operating Olly Timing alongside touchpads a heat interval of 38″ or more is recommended. For meets containing many young or inexperienced swimmers where many backup times may be required, a heat interval of 40″ of more will provide more headroom.
Olly Pad Check optionally includes a printed paper record for audit purposes.
Olly Pad Check availability
Olly Pad Check has been testing during the SNSW Senior State Age Swimming Championships. Version 1.0 is being implemented at SOPAC from January 2025 alongside the venue Swiss Timing system as an enhancement to OllyLink Quantum. Please enquire about availability at other venues or use alongside other touchpad systems.
