Jesus Dapena, professor of biomechanics at IUB, sets up a control object used for 3-D filming. Dapena sets up the object at a track and field event like the Olympics as a means for precisely establishing the 3-D coordinates of a photographed athlete. "Good high jumping is detrimental to your health." —Jesus Dapena Professor of Kinesiology, IUB, and consultant to USA Track & Field

Given three guesses, most of us wouldn’t come close to the answer. But USA Track & Field—the governing body for track and field athletics in the U.S., which promotes the training of Olympic hopefuls—is well-acquainted with what Dapena does and is counting on him to keep at it.

A unit within the Human Performance Laboratories of the Department of Kinesiology at IU Bloomington’s School of Health, Physical Education and Recreation, Dapena’s biomechanics lab exists to gain a better understanding of the mechanics of sports motions. Since 1982, Dapena has been filming top American high jumpers during competition with two cameras. In his lab, the locations of anatomical points of the body are then measured in the projected film images, and the relevant mechanical parameters of the motions are calculated. After Dapena interprets the results, his team prepares a written report and videotape of three-dimensional computer animations to show the athletes the defects in their techniques and what the jump would look like if they made the necessary changes to correct the defects.

"It’s up to them whether or not they want to make the changes," said Dapena. "What we tell them to do is based on solid information, but we can’t predict the amount of improvement that these technique changes will produce in their performance."

Dapena, who was a high jumper in his younger days, used a jumping style called the "straddle," different from the "Fosbury-flop" style that is in general use today. When asked if high jumping is hard on the human body, Dapena replied: "Yes, successful high jumping is hazardous to your health. But at the elite level most other sports are also very stressful to the body, although the health risks don’t hit everyone the same way. Some jumpers retire at age 20, while others are luckier and keep competing well into their thirties."

Last summer, Dapena and one of his students filmed U.S. high jumpers in the National Championships at Stanford University in Palo Alto, Calif. From September to November, Dapena and his students obtained data on 16 top athletes (eight men and eight women), produced computer-generated 3-D animations of the athletes’ performances and presented them with the results in December. "We tend to film athletes who still have potential for further improvement, rather than someone who is nearing the end of his or her career," he said.

This July, Dapena will be going to the Olympic Trials in Sacramento to film the women’s and men’s high jumps. The results at the trials will determine the athletes who will comprise the women’s and men’s teams that will represent the U.S. at the Olympic Games in Athens later this summer.

The steady financial support Dapena has received from USA Track & Field and the U.S. Olympic Committee indicates that his applied research is appreciated and, in fact, economical. The cost of covering Dapena’s expenses for his intensive research is approximately $5,000; beyond that he receives no remuneration. Even if he did, Dapena wouldn’t replace his tried-and-true equipment.

"We prefer our old Rolls Royce to other labs’ brand new scooters. There is no equipment out there that would improve our research," he said. "Our software, almost all of it developed in our own lab, is cutting-edge."

To learn more about Dapena’s research:
http://www.indiana.edu/~sportbm/research.html

To view examples of Dapena’s computer animations:
http://www.indiana.edu/~sportbm/research/hj-animations.html

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