The struggle for medals in 2012 will become increasingly intense over the next three years as Britain aims to emulate the fourth place in the Olympic table achieved in Beijing, its best performance since the Chariots of Fire Games in 1924.

The tiniest margin will make the difference between winning and losing, which is why the opening of a £15m sports technology institute at Loughborough University last year could prove so important in developing ways to aid athletes for 2012.

About 50 researchers are employed in the institute’s two laboratories, which cover 2,500 square metres. This number of employees is likely to rise to 100 by the time of the London Games. They are already working on projects to ensure that British sportsmen and women have the best possible chances in 2012.

Dr Mike Caine, the director of the institute, says: “In the past, technology has been a neglected area in sport. This has changed. There is now a huge demand for advanced training aids and personalised equipment and there is a finite pool of cash.”

The institute is working closely with UK Sport, the quango financed with taxpayers’ money, which is overseeing the preparation of Britain’s team for 2012 and concentrating on the priority activities. Those are the sports Britain has excelled at, such as rowing, sailing and cycling; and those which, UK Sport believes, have the potential to yield more medals in 2012, such as athletics, swimming, boxing, judo and tae-kwon-do.

The institute combines with organisations such as BAE Systems, other universities and industry to help competitors reach a higher standard. So, in swimming, researchers will be using underwater cameras to examine the angle both of the dive of competitors into the water and the glide when they push off from the edge of the pool.

They are questioning what is the best angle for these actions and looking at the angle of the roll of swimmers’ bodies as they turn to breathe during the freestyle or front crawl stroke. Information is then conveyed to a screen on the side of the pool so that the coach can decide whether any adjustment should be made and act before the session ends.

“The sooner you can correct any action the better,” Caine says.

In athletics, much work is being done on individual footwear and deciding what the best mechanical properties for a particular athlete are. Scientists are looking at factors such as the level of stiffness in footwear while still trying to minimise the energy loss that comes from the flexibility of the shoe as the sprinter hurtles down the track.

The spiked shoes for 2012 will be biomechanically tuned to optimise the force production and therefore the speed of the runner.

In tae-kwon-do, where competitors wear foam chest protectors to reduce the impact from being punched or kicked, the institute wants to tailor-make this equipment, which is currently standardised.

“Athletes have different body shapes and some are therefore less protected than others and also lose some freedom of movement, which affects their flexibility when delivering their own attacks,” Caine says.