The physics of winning - engineering the world of sport

Physics, engineering and technology increasingly play a critical role in many sports, enabling athletes to go the extra proverbial mile and surpass their own limits. However, it is not only the competitive elite who benefit from advances in equipment design; many sports have been made safer and more accessible through science and innovation. Clearly, discussion of such ideas will interest a number of students directly. In addition, the numbers given here could readily be used by students to test their understanding of basic physics using simple estimates.