It has also long been accepted that understanding and modifying fluid flow phenomena in sport at a fundamental level should lead to performance enhancement. It comes as no surprise then that elite sports people, sports teams and sports equipment manufacturers are more and more trying to derive competitive aerodynamic advantage from advanced flow modelling technologies. Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) as a flow simulation technique emerged from academia over 20 years ago. In the last 5 years in particular, CFD has gone mainstream in the Computer Aided Engineering (CAE) environment, such that it is now an integral part of the virtual prototyping process in the Automotive Industry for example. In this paper, some of the current uses of CFD in sport are summarised in the context of historical trends and one example of interest to the UK Sports Institute involving a cyclist with a rear disk wheel bike, is described in detail to illustrate the benefits to be gained from CFD applied to Olympic Sport. And finally, from the many examples of CFD making a difference in sport, the author extrapolates and offers a vision of what may be a reality in tomorrow`s sports technology world in terms of CFD`s ongoing contribution to winning sporting performances.
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