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The 2000 Olympic Trials in Track and Field saw the major event debut of several new Lynx products: Wireless ReacTime, AirLynx, SeriaLynx, VCPD (Virtual Com Port Driver), and the incredibly powerful multi-porting version of FieldLynx 1.2. Other Lynx products also contributed to the results production package: FinishLynx 3.0, ResulTV, Lynx infield displays and CyberScoreboard.

The total package was so powerful that Tony Basile, the Chief Information Officer for the United States Olympic Committee, said after the Trials,

FinishLynx was, of course, at the heart of the Track competition. Many races were decided by margins that would have eluded other systems. However, the real breakthrough for FinishLynx was the whole new level of connectivity that was made possible by VCPD and SeriaLynx. These same two products also facilitated the effortless link up between FinishLynx and the wireless ReacTime technology.

With VCPD, the FinishLynx computer could communicate with a practically unlimited number of serial devices, over both wired and wireless connections. FinishLynx was receiving data from ReacTime and wind gauges, and sending data to individually addressable scoreboards, to the announcers booth, and to the Internet.

One benefit of this was that the Lynx display clocks at the corners of the stadium were showing running times and the huge stadium scoreboards - running ResulTV - were displaying results, at the same time and without any operator intervention.

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No wires! Eight lanes without wires and with powerful high-quality audio communication from the starter. Athletes and starters alike both loved the new levels of clarity for the starter’s commands, and the security of accurate false-start detection.

There has never been a false-start detection and analysis system that was so easy to set up, so easy to use, and so affordable. In less time than it took the men to run the 400m, the data of the race start was stored on the ReacTime computer, communicated over the wireless SeriaLynx network to the FinishLynx computer, and sent to the internet for the world to see. And the volunteers on the block team loved not having to negotiate the handling of a hundred meters of mission-critical spaghetti as they cleared the track for the finish of the race.

(One Starter liked the system so much that he bought his own to use at other competitions!)

Prior to the first day’s competition, Lynx set-up a training system at the 100 meter start. It wasn’t long before a crowd of interested athletes and coaches had gathered around to watch the system in operation.

Over the next few hours, the digitized voice of the on-board Virtual Starter in the Block Sensor propelled many of the world’s top sprinters down the track – and brought appreciative comments from coaches and athletes alike about how the unit could become an integral part of their training schedule.

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As the athletes, spectators, and meet announcers followed the progress of the field events on the Lynx infield displays and the huge stadium scoreboards, some of them may have wondered how difficult the system was to use. It is perhaps easy to understand this concern as they watched FieldLynx handle last minute flight changes, five-alive groupings, jump-offs, MetricEnglish measurement system conversions, information display on scoreboards, and wireless data transfers to the administration booth.

However, the truth is this: all of the FieldLynx units were operated by volunteers who had never touched one until the day before competition started. This adds new emphasis to Tony Basile’s comment: "The way spectators were able to follow the progress of the field events on the infield displays was impressive."

The new multi-porting abilities of FieldLynx, coupled with the wireless connectivity of the AirLynx network made instant communication with the database, wind gauges and scoreboards possible.

One key to the rapidity with which results were generated and shared was a consequence of the implementation of a totally new kind of data network that distributed information between components.

To think about how this new Lynx technology works, consider what happens when you make a telephone call: you are connected to another specific telephone either over a cabled or over a wireless connection. With SeriaLynx there are no telephones involved, but thanks to this Lynx technology, serial data devices are now as uniquely addressable, and as easily accessible as telephones.

This instant wired, or wireless, connection is easy with VCPD (Virtual Com Port Driver) running on the computers, and with AirLynx units attached to peripheral devices like scoreboards, wind-gauges, and even Chyron graphics generators in the Television Broadcast facilities.

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ResulTV was linked directly to FinishLynx and the Event Database and displayed flawlessly-accurate start lists, event results, and standings on the stadium scoreboards and also in the television and stadium announcers’ booth.

David Tomasula of Sports Link, the company responsible for the big scoreboards at Sacramento, had this to say: "Thank you for your help in setting things up between your company and our video boards. Displaying results although often taken for granted has never been easier."

Results and photos were automatically uploaded at the conclusion of every event to CyberScoreboard. This data was accessed from several sites: NBC Olympics, the Sacramento Bee, and CyberScoreboard itself. CyberScoreboard alone was handling upwards of 80,000 requests for pages a day.

One Internet commentator had this to say: "The Olympic Trials in Sacramento became the first U.S. Olympic Trials or U.S. outdoor national championship to be able to [make results available online in a timely manner]. Thank you very much to all those involved. It appears that the credit for the official site goes to FinishLynx."

The broadcast graphics generation equipment at the onsite television production facility was also fed data directly from FinishLynx, and this was used to provide start lists and results for transmission across the US and around the globe.