Wired's High-Tech Olympic Gear

Wired magazine has a neat spread of high-tech Olympic gear, including a track shoe with liquid-crystal polymer threads, an $8,500 road bike from Specialized, Speedo’s controversial LZR Racer swimsuit, and a pre-race ice vest made to keep marathoners cool while battling Beijing’s baking August heat.

The aforementioned track shoe struck me as most intriguing. According to the Wired piece, the Nike AeroFly shoes weigh 6.6 ounces and have uppers strengthened with “criss-crossed cables woven from Vectran liquid-crystal polymer threads—the same stuff used in the Mars rovers’ airbags.” The Wired article says Asafa Powell, a 100-meter world record holder, will sprint with the Martian spikes next week.

Click to “Play Like You’re an Olympian With This Gold-Standard Gear” for the full story.