Professor Jill L. McNitt-Gray, an expert in biomechanics and sports science with the USC Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences and the USC Viterbi School of Engineering, has worked with the U.S. Olympic Committee to help American athletes prepare for success at the 2012 London Olympics.
Among the athletes who have benefited from McNitt-Gray’s research are divers, volleyball players, gymnasts and track-and-field athletes, including those participating in the long and triple jump, heptathlon and decathlon.
To view a video of McNitt-Gray breaking down the mechanics of an Olympic dive, go to www.youtube.com/watch?v=9UL-tWDZrL8&feature=youtu.be. The individual Olympic springboard and platform diving competitions will take place August 3 through 11.
McNitt-Gray is also director of the USC Biomechanics Research Laboratory, which uses state-of-the-art biomechanical modeling techniques for athletes. In sports biomechanics, scientists use engineering mechanics, biology and neuroscience to develop 3D dynamic models of the human body, and then use experimental and simulation results to determine the internal and external forces at work on athletes’ bodies when they maintain balance, change directions, sprint, flip or land.
McNitt-Gray is in London and can be contacted for interviews at mcnitt@usc.edu or via Skype: jmcnittgray
For a list of additional Olympics experts, go to www.usc.edu/uscnews/newsroom/news_release.php?id=2769
USC has sent more athletes to the Olympic Games than any other university. From 1904 to 2010, there have been 396 athletes who attended USC before, during or after their Olympic appearance. They have collected an unprecedented 123 gold, 78 silver and 61 bronze medals, including at least one gold medal in every summer Olympics from 1912. This year, 40 Trojans are competing in the London Olympics in seven sports and representing 18 countries. USC’s top 2012 Olympians are swimmer Rebecca Soni, track runners Allyson Felix and Bryshon Nellum, soccer’s Amy Rodriguez, water poloists Kami Craig, Lauren Wenger and Tumua Anae and volleyball’s Nicole Davis. For more information, contact the USC Sports Information Office at (213) 740-8480.
This press release is available on the USC Press Room website.
