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Show Personal computers helped coordinate Special Olympics Powerful personal computers tallied results, helped locate hotel rooms for participants and monitored moni-tored the medical and dietary needs of athletes at the 1985 International Winter Special Olympics Games held last week. IBM, a sponsor of the event, provided 10 Personal Computer XT models and IBM printers to the Special Olympics Games Committee. It also provided computer programming assistance, assis-tance, with more than two dozen local IBM workers volunteering to enter scoring data into the 'computers. ; More than 800 mentally retarded retard-ed athletes participated in the Games. They represented all 50 states, plus U.S. territories and 15 foreign countries. The '85 Games were the largest competition competi-tion of its kind since the event was first held in Steamboat Springs, Colorado in 1977. The Special Olympics Games Committee felt it needed an automated system to handle a myriad of tasks, said Jim Murphy, executive director. "The technology is incredibly multi-faceted," he says. "It's just been a big boost to the Games. In a lot of ways, the computers made what would have been good Games great." Rob Peterson, systems engineer engin-eer manager at IBM's National Accounts Division branch in Salt Lake City, said the computers were programmed to keep track of athletes and their families, as well as coaches and volunteers. "We needed that information to assign hotel rooms and handle accommodations at the Olympic Village, along with helping produce - an-; Olympics phone directory," said Peterson. The system also helps match competitors with interpreters by providing lists of athletes and their native languages. And it generated mailing lists, medical reports and dietary information, said Peterson. Using earlier competition and time trial results, the computers also grouped the athletes according accord-ing to their skills, matching participants in alpine and crosscountry cross-country skiing and speed and figure skating, he said. |
