Sports goods companies around the world have developed cutting-edge technologies in athlete apparel specifically designed for the Beijing Olympics.

An interesting example is U.S. sports goods maker Nike’s new Precool vest. Athletes’ performance falls off drastically when core body temperature hits 103 degrees Fahrenheit. The vest is designed to slow the rise of core body temperature before events in Beijing. It is filled with water and then frozen overnight. The athletes can wear it for about an hour just prior to competition.

Nike is also supplying the U.S. basketball team’s jerseys, which employ a new moisture-and heat-venting technique called aerographics to promote airflow over the skin. Using a new process, Nike chemically ‘etches’ designs on the fabric. The graphics, created by artists, act as vents for air and sweat.

Some of the most exotic technologies are in the field of footwear. Proper shoes are extremely important for performance, especially in track events, where an advantage of even a hundredth of a second could translate into a medal.

German sports goods giant Adidas has designed a racing shoe called Lone Star for U.S. 400-metre Olympic hopeful Jeremy Wariner. The shoe’s carbon nanotube sole is 20 times stronger than steel and the spike pattern on it makes the wearer always lean towards the left, providing leftward propulsion on track ovals where there are no right turns.

Adidas has also developed the adiStar range of rowing shoes with internal plates under the forefoot that attach the shoes to the boat and help provide direct transfer of power from the oarsman to the boat itself.

Nike’s Flywire technology replaces all of a shoe’s heavy structural materials with support threads that resemble the steel cables on a suspension bridge. The Flywire-based Zoom Victory middle-distance spike shoe weighs just 93 grams.

Nike’s new bike shoe, the Dunk Gyrizo, has the same clipless carbon sole plate that Lance Armstrong used in his successful stints at the Tour de France.

The company has also designed boots for equestrian sports using an asymmetrical zipper, that eliminate the need to struggle to jam feet down long, stiff leather riding boots.

The Nike Ippeas (Greek for rider) riding boots provide protection, support, traction, traditional aesthetic and horse control in a package that also reduces weight by eliminating the need for strap-on spurs.

In taekwondo, three of four judges must recognize a strike for a competitor to be awarded a point. So Nike tested 20 different kinds of synthetic leathers to find the loudest to use in its TKV taekwondo boot.

"We did everything we could to get that nice smack," said Sean McDowell, Nike’s footwear design director. "That’s the loudest leather we could come up with."

Drag is a big issue in sports such as swimming and cycling. Drag-reduction is an important area of sports technology research.

Nike has developed the Swift system of dress for the U.S. Olympic track and field squad that reduces drag on key parts of the body. Swift gloves and arm coverings have dimpled fabrics to cut wind resistance and allow arms to slice through the air faster. Its designers claim that compared to bare skin, the gloves and arm coverings reduce drag by 19 per cent and the socks by 12.5 per cent.

U.S. swimmer Katie Hoff will use Speedo’s new LZR Racer swimsuit in the Olympics, that compresses her body at key points to reduce "form drag", making her smaller and thus faster in the water. Speedo avoids fabric stitching as it increases drag. It bonds the panels to the suit’s nylon core using ultrasonic ‘welding’.