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By Jack Maxwell
Jul 01, 2024
As you read this, athletes from around the world are making their final preparations for the Games of the XXXIII Olympiad, more commonly known as the Summer Olympics. Held this year in Paris, the world’s most iconic international sporting event will feature 32 sports contested by more than 10,000 incredibly talented individuals.
Spectators generally focus on the skill of the competitors, the excitement of the individual matches and races, and the medal count. Not much thought is given to the potential dangers inherent in many events. While some sports present obvious risks to the physical well-being of the athletes — boxing and wrestling, for instance — most disciplines face their own unique challenges in terms of keeping participants as safe as possible.
The international governing bodies that administer each of the individual sports are keenly aware of the potential for injuries and establish guidelines for equipment, playing surfaces, and other elements of their particular events. Many of these organizations have their own well-established standards. However, some reference or otherwise incorporate elements of ASTM International standards as key elements of their guidelines.
FOR YOU: Safety Is the Goal
Several standards developed under the aegis of the committee on sports equipment, playing surfaces, and facilities (F08) play a role in supporting efforts to maximize the safety of the athletes who will gather in France this summer — and Los Angeles in four years.
When we speak of Olympic athletes, we’re generally thinking of the people chasing medals in everything from archery to weightlifting. But there is another type of athlete, one with four legs, a swishy tail, and a fondness for oats and carrots.
We’re talking, of course, about horses. These impressive animals and their human partners compete in equestrian categories like dressage, jumping, and eventing (a combination of dressage, cross country, and show jumping). One might think that preparing the surface upon which these events take place is a fairly simple matter. After all, dirt is dirt, right?
Wrong, says Joe Carr, a member of the and principal of Equine Risk Management Group. “The footing in the Paris Olympics equestrian arena is meticulously crafted to meet the highest standards for international competition at the direction of the FEI [Federation Equestre Internationale, or International Federation for Equestrian Sports],” he explains.
A balanced blend of silica sand, felt fibers, and geotextile additives will be carefully mixed to provide optimum consistency and stability for both horses and riders. “The sand provides a consistent, stable surface for traction and support, while the fibers enhance shock absorption and reduce compaction,” says Carr. “The geotextile additives help to improve drainage and prevent the footing from becoming too dusty or slippery.”
The process of preparing the equestrian venues could reference several ASTM standards, including the standard test methods for in-situ testing of functional properties of equine surfaces: artificial surfaces () and triaxial shear strength and cohesion of equine sports surfaces (). A number of more specific test methods such as gas chromatography (), differential scanning calorimetry (), and X-ray diffraction () are also available to evaluate petroleum waxes and other components of synthetic equestrian surfaces.
A number of Olympic sports are contested on artificial turf surfaces. Among them are field hockey, football/soccer, rugby, track and field, and tennis. Field hockey and rugby venues in Paris will feature synthetic turf, with the latter being a hybrid turf system. The subcommittee on artificial turfs and systems (F08.65) strives to address safety aspects of synthetic turf playing systems and their material components. “ASTM standards for sports and sports playing surfaces are recognized around the world,” says Richard Breland, F08.65 chair and long-serving member of a number of related subcommittees. “The Federation Internationale de Football Association [FIFA] and DIN [the German national standards organization] have favorably improved as a result of ASTM sports standards developed by the F08 subcommittees.”
In Breland’s view, one of the most impactful standards developed by the subcommittee relates to shock, or impact, attenuation. Whenever someone playing football or field hockey, for example, hits the ground, more impact absorbed by the playing surface means less impact felt by the athlete’s body.
The standard specification for impact attenuation of turf playing systems as measured in the field (F1936) establishes a maximum value of 200 g-max. Sports playing field surfaces are typically being installed with shock attenuation ranging from 60 to 125 g-max. Any fields installed above 125 g-max would be out of the norm. (The term g-max is defined as a measurement of the impact attenuation of a playing surface system, expressed as a ratio of the acceleration/deceleration that happens during impact to the normal acceleration rate that results from gravity.)
Standards for running surfaces are a key to safer track and field events.
“The typical range could be 60 to 100 g-max with current technology and manufacturing capability,” Breland notes. (The higher the g-max value, the less effective the shock attenuation or absorption of the system.) He also points out that F1936 is up for its five-year revision and that the maximum specification limit could be “significantly reduced” to lower the risk of injuries.
Other important turf standards include the standard test method for measuring force reduction, vertical deformation, and energy restitution of synthetic turf systems using the Advanced Artificial Athlete (F3189) and the standard test method for comprehensive characterization of synthetic turf playing fields and materials (F1551). Of the latter, Breland says it’s “a compilation of F08.65 standards and other related standards used to develop turf standards in the subcommittee. F1551 is a quick reference that can be used by turf manufacturers, specifiers, and owners for synthetic turf development, production, selection, etc.” Improvements in turf system shock attenuation and shoe-to-surface optimization could significantly reduce the risk of concussion and lower extremity surface-related injuries.
Truly the oldest team sport played in what are now the Americas, lacrosse traces its origins back to around 1100 AD, when the Iroquois people of New York and adjacent areas of Canada held matches that could last for days. The sport has obviously evolved over the centuries and will mark a new milestone when it makes its modern Olympic debut at the 2028 Summer Games with men’s and women’s sixes (a variant played with six rather than 10 men or 11 women players).
Ann Kitt-Carpenetti is president of the Pan American Lacrosse Association and has chaired the subcommittee on lacrosse equipment (F08.31) for eight years. She explains that, as with a number of Olympic sports, ASTM’s lacrosse-related standards are not utilized by the governing bodies that regulate global competition.
“International rules dictate the equipment requirements for women’s lacrosse in international play,” Kitt-Carpenetti says. “World Lacrosse is the International Olympic Committee (IOC)-recognized global governing organization for the sport of lacrosse. From an equipment standpoint, the international women’s sixes game currently allows for the use of eyewear, but it is not required.”
Kitt-Carpenetti adds that the men’s game in all disciplines (field and box lacrosse, in addition to sixes) has a completely different set of protective equipment requirements, and these are not currently maintained within ASTM.
ASTM’s two women’s lacrosse equipment standards are the standard specifications for headgear used in women’s lacrosse (excluding goalkeepers) () and eye protectors used in women’s lacrosse (). F3137, which covers performance requirements —shock absorption, ball impact absorption, and deformation — and corresponding test methods designed to address the force of incidental stick and ball impacts to protective headgear, was developed in the subcommittee on headgear and helmets (F08.53), which covers combative sports, equestrian headgear, bicycles, etc. with important input from F08.31.
“All headgear products that include integrated eyewear must meet the F3077 eyewear standard,” Kitt-Carpenetti says. “In the United States, eyewear that meets this standard is a required piece of equipment in women’s lacrosse at all levels of play, but headgear remains optional in the rules. Internationally, eyewear is optional and headgear is not permitted.”
But what about goaltenders, who are not covered by F3137? According to Kitt-Carpenetti, women’s goalie helmets (as well as men’s helmets worn by non-goalies) are covered by performance standards administered by the National Operating Committee on Standards for Athletic Equipment (NOCSAE). This organization, based in the U.S., covers certain types of protective gear used in baseball, football, hockey, lacrosse, and polo.
READ MORE: Two Standards for Water Sports
“The goaltender position in women’s lacrosse is different than the field player. The injury mechanics are different, and the protective equipment worn by the goalies is different,” says Kitt-Carpenetti.
The cycling category at the Olympics comprises four disciplines: road racing, mountain bike racing, track, and BMX. But even though there are no less than nine cycling-related F08 subcommittees — covering everything from frames to brakes to wheels — Bud Kisamore explains that the
standards they develop are safety-oriented rather than performance-oriented, and not necessarily pertinent to the type of equipment used in the Olympics.
“Competitive events are usually pushing the envelope of performance and have requirements that may differ from the standards that ASTM works with,” says Kisamore, chair of the bicycle subcommittee (F08.10) and product safety test engineer at Quality Bicycle Products.
He also points out that the bicycle industry is governed primarily by standards organizations other than ASTM. “The law that all manufacturers need to comply with in order to sell bikes in the U.S. is 16 CFR [Code of Federal Regulations] 1512, but many bike makers also do business in other countries as well. As a result, the industry must pay very close attention to, and be involved in, other national and international standards organizations’ work.”
Some ASTM standards are applicable no matter what an individual plans to do with the bike. “The bicycle standards for forks and frames, and specifically the sections that address fatigue and max load/impact durability test requirements, are relevant to all products, whether the end user is a casual rider or a seasoned Category-1 racer,” says Kisamore.
Speaking more broadly, Kisamore notes that the Olympics is one of the relatively rare opportunities for people to be exposed to cycling and can spike interest among new enthusiasts who may be unfamiliar with the basics of getting started. This scenario is where .
Take the standard classification for bicycle usage (F2043). “As folks watch Olympic events and are drawn to one or more of the different styles of bicycle, it’s very important that they are able to head to a retailer and find the type of bike they’re looking for,” Kisamore says. “The ASTM use classification standard is meant to help the end-user properly identify the different types of bicycles available and ensure they are purchasing the type of product that will adequately meet their needs.”
Approached from the perspective of the standards-development community, the Olympics represents a complicated challenge. With 30-plus sports, each administered by its own governing body, there are many moving parts. Add the fact that much of the equipment used by the world’s greatest athletes is fundamentally the same as that used by everyday people who participate in these sports, and you have a complicated standards environment.
As noted, many sports-related ASTM standards are oriented more toward issues that impact safety, rather than the more rarified concerns of high-level competitors — and there are numerous other examples beyond the ones covered here.
Nonetheless, equipment standards developed by the many F08 subcommittees are having an impact. Two prominent examples of athletes who will be safer thanks to standards like F1936 and F3137 are equestrians in Paris this summer and female lacrosse players four years from now in Los Angeles. The turf played on in Paris may be safer as well.
It is reasonable to assume that, as coordination among the various entities that administer international sports continues to improve, ASTM standards will play an even greater role in future Olympic games.■
Jack Maxwell is a freelance writer based in Westmont, N.J.
July / August 2024
