Olympic Speed Skating

At the start of the timed races, 2 competitors line up against each other (say one from Canada and one from Norway, for example). The lane the Canandian is in has the Canadian flag apparently frozen, yet visible UNDER THE ICE, as does the lane for the Norwegian, with his native flag. The next race may be the USA v. Russia, and in the skaters lane from the USA is the USA flag, as is the Russian flag under the ice of the lane the Russian starts in. How do they do this? I'm asking you guys here, cause you all know everything. ((grin)) TIA debbie

I asssume that the flags are projected as an image that telvision viewers can see but live spectators can't. Much like the yellow line that shows where the first down marker is in football.

It is a visual effect for sure. It was also used in summer Olympics swimming with nations flag projected onto the swimming lanes . I also like it.

If the image is clear, then it's being overlayed onto the projected television image by a computer - it's not visible to spectators in the arena. It's the same technology used in (American) football broadcasts to show the first-down line, and in soccer broadcasts to make it seem that beer ads have been painted onto the midfield grass.


If it's faded or fuzzy or otherwise distorted, then it could be some sort of projection equipment underneath the ice. I find that extremely unlikely, for technical and cost reasons.


TRLS