Sports or forms of athletic contests have  been  around  almost

          since  the  dawn of man.  Computers, on the other  hand,  evolved

          recently on  the  time scale.  The two have converged in the past

          forty  years creating a computerized-sport revolution.  Not  only

          are the common home computers teaming  with  the  latest  fitness



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          boom, but large athletic organizations such as the  U.S.  Olympic

          Committee and the National Football League are turning  to  large

          mainframe  computers  to  organize their  tremendous  amounts  of

          information.  Since these are multi-million dollar organizations,

          the  use  of  computer  aided athletes, game  plans,  recruiting,

          drafting, and analysis envolves not only an exciting  new look at

          athletics and fitness  but  also an unfortunate advantageous tool

          for corruption of athletics in the U.S., computerized gambling.

            The recent fitness boom has hit the U.S. hard.  The 80's is the

          decade of fitness.  growing along  side  the fitness craze is the

          computer.  Expectedly, there are computers out now that  can  aid

          the struggling amateur athlete.   One  such  home computer allows

          the operator to,  prior  to  the  workout, set a personal goal or

          amount of calories preferably burned up.  Once  set  the  athlete

          can begin the workout and the computer will convey when that goal

          is  reached.   More  sophisticated  home computers teach  how  to

          workout before the workout  even  begins.   On  this  system  the

          operator will give the computer personal information about his or

          herself  on  a  floppy  disk,  physical  characteristics,  goals,

          workout plan, etc.  The computer then  signals  the  operator  to

          begin  the  workout.   As  the  workout  progresses the  computer

          monitors each repitition on a television screen and motivates the

          user to continue.   At  the  end  of  each  workout, the computer

          updates the personal disk as progress is attained.[1]

          ----------

          1.  Michael  Marino,  "Getting  Fit With a  High-tech  Helpmate,"
          Mademoiselle, July 1984, p.  31.
          ____________



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            Along with these  computers  are  others  that  can  inform  an

          athlete of what diet would best accomadate him, based on personal

          exercise and eating habits.  The diversity of computers in aiding

          athletes or fitness buffs is very useful, not  only to housewives

          and  businessmen  but  to  professional  athletes  as well.   The

          computerized athletes step on to the court, field, rink, or track

          with a distinct edge, simply because  the  computer  has  already

          given  them   the  information  needed  to  reach  their  maximum

          potential.  The computers that enable these athletes to reach for

          a  once  impossible  goal  are far more  complex  than  the  home

          computers of today.

            A man by the name of Gideon Ariel was possibly the sole pioneer

          of  computerized-athletics.   A  former  Olympic  shotputter  for

          Israel with an extensive backround  in  computer  science,  Ariel

          spent  seven  years  perfecting  his program which  analyzes  the

          athlete's motion, and in turn outputs:

               the  important  things in performance, the  timing  the
               relative speeds of dozens  of  limb  and body segments,
               the changes in centers  of  gravity.   All these things
               must be measured, weighed and compared  to  be  of  any
               use.[2]


          Ariel's computerization caused these statistics to be put to very

          good use, helping our Olympic athletes.

            In November of 1975 the U.S. Olympic Committee assembled twelve

          of the best U.S. shotputters  in  Los Angeles.  There, high speed


          ----------

          2.  Kenny  Moore,"Gideon  Ariel  and  His  Magic  Machine,"Sports
                                                                     ______
          Illustrated, August 1977, p.  55.
          ___________



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          cameras  filmed  them in action.  T