Technology in sport: performance, monitoring, ethics: HSC PDHPE Improving Performance
“Use of technology to enhance performance: equipment and apparel (footwear, swimsuits, bikes), recovery technology, monitoring technology (GPS, heart rate, biomarkers), video and biomechanical analysis, ethical considerations of access and fairness”
Tech spans equipment (carbon-plated shoes, banned swimsuits, aero bikes), recovery (cryotherapy, altitude tents), monitoring (GPS, heart rate, biomarkers) and video/biomechanical analysis. The core ethical issue is unequal access making competition unfair.
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Legacy syllabus. This page covers the former PDHPE Stage 6 syllabus (listed by NESA as PDHPE Stage 6 (2012)). The last PDHPE HSC exam was held in 2025. From the 2026 HSC, students sit Health and Movement Science 11-12 (2023) instead: see our HSC Health and Movement Science hub. Use this page only as background or for older revision material.
Technology has reshaped elite sport more than any other single factor in the last two decades. Equipment, apparel, monitoring, recovery, and analytical tools have all advanced substantially. The HSC syllabus expects you to know the main categories and to think through the ethical implications, particularly around access and fairness.
Equipment and apparel
Footwear
The most-discussed recent example. Carbon-plated marathon shoes (introduced by Nike with the Vaporfly in 2017 and now produced by every major running brand) have driven measurable performance improvements at all levels. The mechanism is a carbon plate that stores and releases energy in a way that improves running economy by 3-5%.
World records in distance running have fallen rapidly since 2017, with the carbon-plated shoes contributing significantly. World Athletics has imposed restrictions (sole thickness limits, plate count limits) but allows current designs in competition.
Other footwear advances include sport-specific cleats (football boots, golf shoes), spike configurations (sprinting, throwing), and grip technologies (basketball, court sports).
Swimsuits
The 2008-2009 polyurethane and neoprene swimsuit era produced dozens of world records in a 24-month window. FINA banned these suits in 2010, returning to textile-only swimwear. The episode is the canonical example of a technological advance forcing rule changes.
Bikes
Aerodynamic frames, time-trial bikes, disc wheels, deep-section wheels, aerodynamic positioning, and integrated cockpit designs have transformed cycling. The UCI imposes minimum bike weights and other restrictions to prevent technology from making the sport effectively unfair.
Australian Olympic and Commonwealth Games cycling success has substantial technology underpinning (the AIS Wattbike program, dedicated wind tunnel work, custom-fit equipment).
Other equipment
Tennis rackets, golf clubs, cricket bats, hockey sticks, surfboards - every piece of sporting equipment has been engineered over the last decades. The rules typically constrain dimensions and materials to keep the technology within the spirit of the sport.
Recovery technology
Cryotherapy chambers
Whole-body cold exposure at temperatures of -100 to -140°C for 2-3 minutes. Widely used in elite sport for recovery. Evidence of benefit beyond the placebo effect is mixed but the practice is widespread.
Compression equipment
Pneumatic compression boots (NormaTec and similar) apply progressive compression to legs. Athletes use them post-training and post-competition. Evidence supports reduced perceived soreness; objective performance benefits are smaller.
Altitude tents and chambers
Simulated altitude for "live high, train low" adaptation. Used by endurance athletes to boost red blood cell mass. Some sports have restrictions; most allow it.
Sleep technology
Mattresses, sleep tracking, light management, temperature management. Sleep is increasingly recognised as the single most important recovery factor, and athletes invest substantially in protecting it.
Recovery rooms and centres
Dedicated recovery facilities at AIS, state institutes of sport, and major club training centres. Combine multiple modalities (pools, cryotherapy, massage, nutrition support, sleep monitoring).
Monitoring technology
GPS units
Used in field sport (AFL, NRL, rugby, soccer, hockey). Track distance covered, speed, sprint distance, acceleration, deceleration. Data drives training load decisions and helps identify athletes at risk of injury.
Heart rate monitoring
From chest straps to wrist-based optical sensors. Tracks training intensity (relative to estimated max), recovery (HRV), and acute physiological stress.
Power meters
In cycling and rowing. Measure direct power output rather than relying on heart rate as a proxy. Allow precise training prescription.
Biomarker monitoring
Blood testing for ferritin, vitamin D, cortisol, testosterone, immune markers, and inflammation. Elite athletes have substantial blood work routinely; recreational athletes have less.
Sleep tracking
Wearable devices and bed-based tracking. Sleep duration, sleep stages, heart rate variability.
Wearables
Apple Watch, Garmin, Whoop, Oura ring. Aggregate multiple metrics. Recreational and elite athletes both use them, with the elite versions adding higher-quality sensors.
Video and biomechanical analysis
Video analysis
Standard practice in elite sport. Athletes review their performance, study opponents, and identify technical issues. Tools range from coaches' standalone footage to enterprise platforms (Hudl, Coach's Eye, Dartfish).
Motion capture
Force plates, 3D motion capture, marker-based systems used in dedicated biomechanics labs. Identifies technical issues at a level the eye cannot see. Used most in throwing, swimming, golf, batting/bowling cricket.
AI-based analysis
Computer vision now extracts athlete movement data from standard video footage. Tools that detected ball trajectory and player positioning automatically were elite-only a decade ago and are now available to community sport.
Ethical considerations
The technology conversation in sport keeps returning to a small set of issues.
Access and fairness
Technology that costs money creates inequality. Carbon-plated marathon shoes ($400+) are affordable for serious recreational runners but not for everyone. Aero bikes cost $10,000+. Custom-fit equipment, biomarker monitoring, and recovery technology compound the gap.
At the school level, this manifests as: high-fee private schools have professional sport science programs and equipment that public school athletes do not. The 2024-2026 discussion of public-school sports funding in Australia is partly about this gap.
At the international level, wealthy nations have technology programs that poorer nations cannot match.
Definition of the sport
Does technology change what the sport actually is? When carbon-plated shoes improved running economy by 3-5%, did marathon racing become a different sport? When polyurethane swimsuits broke records, were the records still comparable to pre-suit records?
Sport governing bodies make these calls case by case. World Athletics regulates shoes; FINA banned non-textile suits; UCI sets bike weight limits.
Coaching versus technology
Some argue that technology has replaced traditional coaching judgment with data analysis. The counterview is that good technology amplifies good coaching rather than replacing it.
Privacy and athlete welfare
Continuous monitoring of athletes raises privacy questions. Where is the data stored? Who has access? Can a club use medical and biomarker data to inform contract decisions or selection decisions in ways the athlete did not authorise?
Genetic testing and selection
Some elite programs screen for genetic markers associated with performance (ACE gene, ACTN3 gene). The science is preliminary but the ethical issues are significant - selecting young athletes based on genetics, predicting career trajectories from DNA, potentially excluding athletes who do not have "ideal" profiles.
Anti-doping crossover
Recovery technology (cryotherapy, altitude tents) sits in a grey zone between training and doping. The current line drawn by WADA permits most of it but reviews are ongoing.
A strong assess answer moves from what the technology does, to who can access it, to what governing bodies should do.
Step 1: Name the technology and its effect
Carbon-plated marathon shoes improve running economy by roughly to , which has driven a rapid fall in distance-running records since 2017.
Step 2: Identify who has access
At elite level wealthy nations out-resource poorer ones; at school level high-fee private schools have sports-science programs public schools lack; the shoes themselves are affordable to serious recreational runners but not to all.
Step 3: Apply the governance lens
World Athletics responded with sole-thickness and plate limits rather than a ban, mirroring FINA's swimsuit ban and the UCI's bike-weight rules.
Step 4: Reach a judgement
Conclude that the technology is legitimate but the fairness of competition depends on access, so regulation plus equitable access is the defensible position.
A frequent error is producing a catalogue of gadgets (GPS, cryotherapy, power meters) and stopping there. The syllabus dot point explicitly requires the ethical considerations of access and fairness. A response that lists technologies but never addresses who can afford them, whether competition stays fair, or how governing bodies regulate them misses the highest-value content. Always pair the description with the access-and-fairness analysis.
How this connects to broader themes
This dot point ties to:
- Commercialisation (technology costs money and creates competitive advantage).
- Equity in sport (the access question).
- Drugs in sport (technology and PEDs both raise the "what is fair" question).
Strong HSC extended responses on technology in sport address what the technology does, what it costs, who has access, and what role governing bodies should play in regulating it.
Exam-style questions
Questions in the style of NESA exam questions on this dot point, each with a worked answer. They are written by ExamExplained unless tagged "Past paper"; the year shows the paper a question is modelled on.
HSC 2020-style5 marksDescribe how monitoring technology is used to improve performance, and outline ONE ethical concern it raises.Show worked answer →
A 5-mark response needs concrete monitoring uses plus one ethical issue.
Uses. GPS units in field sport track distance, speed, sprint distance and acceleration to manage training load and flag injury risk; heart rate and HRV monitor intensity and recovery; power meters give direct output in cycling and rowing; biomarker testing tracks ferritin, vitamin D and inflammation.
Ethical concern. Continuous monitoring raises privacy questions: who stores and accesses the data, and can a club use medical or biomarker data for selection or contract decisions the athlete did not authorise?
Markers reward (1) several monitoring technologies with their purpose, (2) the link to performance decisions, (3) a clearly stated ethical concern.
HSC 2022-style8 marksAssess the ethical implications of using technology to enhance sporting performance, with reference to access and fairness.Show worked answer →
An 8-mark assess needs a judgement weighing benefits against the access-and-fairness problem.
- The benefit
- Equipment (carbon-plated shoes improving running economy by to , aero bikes), recovery and monitoring technology measurably improve performance.
- The fairness problem
- Cost creates inequality: carbon-plated shoes (), aero bikes (), biomarker monitoring and sports-science programs favour wealthy athletes, schools and nations; high-fee private schools out-resource public schools, and wealthy nations out-resource poorer ones.
- Governance
- Bodies regulate case by case (World Athletics shoe limits, FINA's swimsuit ban, UCI bike-weight rules) to protect the spirit of the sport.
- Judgement
- Conclude that technology is broadly legitimate but threatens fairness where access is unequal, so regulation and equitable access are essential; markers reward a calibrated verdict with named examples.