Lamps and detectors on the device are attached to the skin with tape. A computer chip inside the Runman is programmed to record chemical changes that occur inside an athlete's muscle during a race. Ice skaters in Lake Placid and Texas have already used the Runman, and one of the Chinese Olympic sprinters participating in Atlanta is presently testing the device. Maybe four or five years from now more elite athletes will be using it for clues on how to change their mechanics to improve performance. These days shaving fractions of a second here and there can be the difference between gold and silver medals.
Chance knows that from experience.
My dream, as that of any other athlete in competitive sports, was to win gold in the Olympics. Then Bill Carr, my classmate and fraternity brother from Penn, won gold in the 400 meters in the 1932 Olympics. He became a great inspiration for me. The outbreak of World War II prevented Chance from following Carr's lead. Because of the war, the Olympics were suspended after 1936.