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Story highlights
The Winter Olympics revealed a wide range of high-tech equipment
While some gear enhances athletes' performance, some are more focused on style
U.S. speed skating team suffered problems with its hi-tech bodysuits
TV companies used drones for aerial shots of mountain events
The Winter Olympics’ motto was “Hot. Cool. Yours.”
From eye-popping helmet designs to Formula One-influenced bobsleigh, the Sochi 2014 Games offered a bewildering array of technological innovation as well as some seriously “pimped up” athlete equipment.
As well as the funky headgear, who could forget the Norwegian curling team’s pants, which were reminiscent of an abstract Mondrian painting?
Bobsleigh was in the vanguard of exploring new technological improvements, with a number of teams hooking up with leading F1 marques or car manufacturers.
While the Italian National Olympic Committee worked with Ferrari, the U.S. two-men bobsleigh team benefited from its collaboration with BMW.
The result? The first American two-man bobsleigh medal in 62 years.
The U.S. speed skating team had less luck with its Mach 39 Under Armour suits, leaving the Winter Olympics without a medal for the first time since 1984.
Despite the criticism of the team’s suits, last week U.S. Speed Skating renewed its partnership with Under Armour for another eight years.
“Look, we got beat up a little bit last week and speed skating is obviously getting beaten up,” Under Armour chief executive Kevin Plank told CBS’ “This Morning” show.
“So what we don’t do is we don’t retreat. We dust ourselves up and we come back bigger, better and stronger than we ever were before.”
Television companies got in on the act using a hexacopter – or remote piloted aircraft – to transmit live video of snowboard and ski jump competitions to a screen near you.
Take a look at the gallery above to see the gear that made Sochi cool.