Which sport has been least impacted by technology in the last 50 years?

Boxing has not changed much.

The heavyweight division has moved towards super tall 250lb plus giants like klitschko brothers and Tyson fury as opposed to 220lb Joe Louis, Ali, Tyson types. That isn't technology so much as natural selection.

A good middleweight fight in 2020 looks largely the same as a good middleweight fight in 1980.

croquet

Sumo wrestling

Martial Arts, Synchronized Swimming, Equestrian, Water Polo and Gymnastics as far as Olympic events.

Bib #1 wrote:

Much has been made of impact of shoe technology to running. Not to mention pacing lights and track surfaces (cinder vs whatever tracks are made of these days).

Better clubs and balls have changed golf

Rackets and balls have transformed tennis

Bats and balls and mitts have impacted baseball

Bikes are way better for cyclists these days

Football maybe less so, although today’s footballs probably spiral better and may be easier to catch and handle due to more frequent replacement, better materials and better overall construction quality. Receivers and QBs also use tacky gloves not previously available. Today’s pads and helmets are better, obviously, mitigating injuries

Basketball is probably least impacted of all

Discus

In team sports and all the ball sports, technological advances don't matter so much, since you're only competing against the other team, not all of history in your sport. Even records for things like HRs in baseball are subject to a million different variables that make comparison across eras difficult: stadium size, ball and batt construction, league size creating a dilution of pitcher quality, offensive and defensive strategic changes, etc.

Technological changes matter so much in a sport like running precisely because it is so simple, with so few variables. It's amazing to know that a runner in 2020 is competing on the same courses as runners 30, 50, even 100 years ago, so you can make direct comparisons across eras very easily.

But change one variable (for example, cinder tracks -> tartan tracks) and suddenly the whole sport changes.

Running should be still the sport with the least amount of technology changes.

Yes there are now these Nike 4% shoes but before that, not much changed for 30 years.

Other sports are depending on way more technology.

Hate to break it but PEDs are technology. Probably the least effected would be something like chess. Anything athletic has been effected with the ever increasing use of PED.

Tennis?

TheXCrunner wrote:

Tennis?

Umm. Not even close. Look at old wooden rackets with like 6" heads vs. giant new graphite ones with a sweet spot the size of an apple pie.

Even chess players will take PEDs to be more alert and enhance cognition.

Olympic weightlifting.

Highland Games

Cross country

eurodonkey wrote:

Olympic weightlifting.

Oh yes, and most jumps and throws. Not much you can do to make a shot fly further.

And come to think of it, if we're talking 50 years, PEDs have almost certainly DECREASED in that time. Steroids were around in the 1970s, un-tested-for and no doubt in large doses, and now the testing moderates this.

Rugby hasn’t changed much or soccer and whoever said cross country that is pretty much the same.

Chess

conkers and wiff waff.

Chess has been massively impacted with computer use. Even Alpha Zero recently and much more people are playing h4 early...

The only major technological advance in basketball has been to not enforce traveling.

Curling

Jukskei

Not technology, but Van Cortland park is a completely different course nowadays, it is like a track,compared to the late70's.