Damn you and your kidding.

the judges are in the field to mark the spot where they javelin hits -- when the javelin fails to 'stick' the landing.

and like any flying object: they are often difficult to see when they are coming straight for you.

What a terrible job! Can't they use cameras or something?! :(

nope... still requires someone to 'flag' the spot and to hold the end of the measuring tape.

There is usually a safety person who watches the field to make sure it is clear before signalling to the athlete. Of course, it's also easy for the javelin to take an errant course.

Found that old video
 

OK. I found the video I mentioned earlier. It's tiny, but you can see why I remembered it. For those who might be squeamish... it's not really gory.

http://www.stfunoob.com/movies/Unlik...20Accident.mpg

With all our technology they can't find some better way to measure this? Come on!

I'm still trying to figure out how the NFL gets the blue scrimmage line and the yellow first down line on the TV without it going over the player's pictures.

We can send a man to the moon, but we can't stop killing javelin judges. If they outlaw javelins, only outlaws will have javelins (and any other trite sayings you want to throw in here.)

Any movies of shot put or discuss accidents?

Technology costs money. Warm bodies are cheap. While this was a national competition, even your local grade school probably has a track and field team - and somebody ends up judging these things.

Lia Mara Lourenco's dream of becoming the first internationally recognized javelin punter comes to a painful end.

Brazil sent a man to the moon? :confused:

Funny, mosquito.

I always assumed it was just the typical green-screen technology: the field is already green, and the players aren't.

As found on Sportvisions site:
A laser placed in the center of the field is used to collect data on elevation points. That information is used to draw a computer map of the contours of the field, and the map is adjusted and overlaid onto the camera’s view of the actual field. Anywhere from three to five separate broadcast cameras are outfitted with custom Sportvision sensors and encoders to capture camera data so that the 1st and Ten Computers can enhance one camera “live” with the yellow line, and any of the others for use in replay. As cameras pan, tilt and zoom, this data enables the virtual line to follow suit, staying in perspective and getting larger and smaller, as needed.

Drawing the yellow line so that it appears to be painted on field underneath the players is accomplished through a sophisticated process of color keying that allows the operators to tell the computers what colors to draw on (grass, dirt) and what not to draw on (skin, uniforms). And finally, after adding the precise location of the first down marker to the system, Walla … The Yellow Line appears like magic on your TV screen.

I believe they also use 13 computers.

It's hard to do.:eek:

welcome, spuck!

Well, is nothing else I learned how they do the lines in NFL! Thanks all!

Someone had mentioned that the judges needed to be where they are placed because (and this is my take on it, please correct if wrong) the javelin does not always stick into the ground, so the landing spot must be determined.

But a javelin is sharp enough to impale a foot or a body; wouldn't it probably leave some kind of "divot" in the ground?

A javelin does not leave a 'divot' like a golf club... How good are our eyes to find a small hole in the ground under grass? The person still needs to be nearby to mark the spot.