In the 1880s photographers and sports enthusiasts confidently declared
the end of dead heats in sporting competition. Reflecting a broader
social belief in technology, proponents of the camera stressed that the
device could provide definitive proof of who won and who lost. Yet
despite this remedy for the inadequate human eye, competitive races
between horses, boats, and bicycles ended too close to call a sole
champion. More than a century later, when cameras can subdivide the
second into ten-thousandths and beyond, athletes continue to cross the
finish line in ties. In this fascinating journey through the history of
the photo-finish in sports, Jonathan Finn shows how innovation was
animated by a drive for ever more precise tools and a quest for perfect
measurement. As he traces the technological developments inspired by
this crusade - from the evolution of the still camera to movie cameras,
ultimately leading to complex contemporary photo-finish systems - Finn
uncovers the social implications of adopting and contesting the
photograph as evidence in sport. At every turn empirical obsession
intersects with the unpredictability of sports, creating a paradox
wherein the precision offered by photo-finish technology far exceeds the
realities of human performance and its measurement. Separating athletes
by the hundredth, thousandth, or ten-thousandth of a second is often a
fiction that comes with significant material and cultural implications.
A lively biography of a critical technology, Beyond the Finish Line
illuminates the cultural role of the photo-finish in win-at-all-costs
culture and warn that in our pursuit for precision we may threaten the
human element of sport that galvanizes mere spectators into fans.
