The Mexican Tec graduate invention used by Olympic athletes in Paris

“I actually developed this band while working at Tec de Monterrey’s Innovation Gym,” explained Mexican Gustavo Cadena to CONECTA.

He is referring to the cooling headband that uses nanotechnology to evaporate sweat which was worn by several athletes and medalists at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games.

It was worn by athletes such as Sifan Hanna, gold medalist in the women’s marathon, and Eliud Kipchoge, two-time Olympic champion in the men’s marathon.

“As a Mexican, it feels great that your product can be so good they’re wanting to wear it in competitions that will be remembered forever,” Cadena says.

The Omius band, which had already been worn at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, was created by Cadena, a Tec de Monterrey graduate of Engineering Physics.

“It’s 100% Mexican technology, which I developed while working at Tec de Monterrey’s Innovation Gym.”

Mexican technology used by the world’s most elite athletes

Cadena said that around 50 athletes wore his band at Paris 2024.

“And around 40 (athletes) wore it in the triathlon, which is where we’ve put in the most effort and where we’ve been working for several years.”

“In the men’s triathlon, the silver and bronze medalists (also) wore it,” these being Hayden Wilde from New Zealand and Léo Bergère from France.

“In race walking, Ecuadorian Daniel Pintado, who won the gold medal, wore it during the 20 km race. Although he took it off at the end, he wore it for the first 16 km. It was also worn in race walking by Mexican Ever Palma.

“And then, in the men’s marathon, it was worn by the men’s silver medalist (Belgian Bashir Abdi). In the women’s marathon, it was worn by the gold medalist (Hassan) and the bronze medalist (Hellen Obiri), who also took it off for the last 2 km in the end.

Cadena said he believes some athletes removed their headbands at the end because of the issue of photos.

“It’s 100% Mexican technology. I began the project in 2013 with another idea, which was like a kind of vest that would always keep you comfortable.

“But I developed this in Mexico, at the Tec’s Innovation Gym in fact, testing things, building things with all the machines they lent us.”

The Innovation Gym is a center for creativity, design, innovation, and technological entrepreneurship at Tec de Monterrey’s School of Engineering & Sciences.

“It was a huge thrill to see (Eliud) Kipchoge wearing the headband. I couldn’t believe it. It was like a dream come true.”

How did the headbands reach these athletes?

The Tec graduate said that an athlete manager contacted him one month before the Olympics because he saw his technology and knew that Paris would be very hot.

“They contacted me one month before and said, ‘We’ve seen your band, we’re interested in trying it out,’ and we sent them like 15 bands.”

Since the manager handles a lot of athletes, he only said that they had liked them, but he didn’t tell him who.

“Since we don’t have any agreement or contract with them, and we don’t pay them to use it, we just gifted them the product and said: ‘If they like it, then they’re going to wear it.’

“I didn’t know who had liked it, so I was watching the live broadcast at midnight in Mexico and watching the medal leaders there.”

He said it was very emotional for him to see it worn by Kenyan Eliud Kipchoge, two-time Olympic marathon champion in 2016 and 2020 and world record holder in the marathon until 2023.

“It was a huge thrill to see Kipchoge wearing the headband. I couldn’t believe it. It was like a dream come true,” Cadena says.

“It was Kipchoge’s last Olympics, and these are the most important competitions of his life. The fact that he decided to wear something on his body at such short notice is really motivating.”

How does the band work?

Cadena explained that the band is made of graphite, a very light thermally conductive material, which he considered ideal for wearing while exercising.

He explained that it has a special coating which makes the graphite interact with the body, absorbing sweat and water that may be spilled, so that the water is absorbed by the material.

“The band distributes this water over its entire increased surface area for faster evaporation. That’s how it works.”

He noted that the basic concept is to increase the skin’s surface area, which is a technique used to cool machines.

“For example, in computers you have a processor and a heatsink that amplifies the surface area and thus cools it down. Or your car’s radiator, which takes heat from the engine and distributes it over a larger area.”

“What we’re doing is amplifying what the body has already designed, giving it one more boost to improve it.”

Cadena explained that they use the same concept of increasing surface area with a highly conductive material.

“And then we add evaporation, so that it performs the same function as the skin, because the human body, when exercising, gets rid of most of its heat by evaporating sweat from the skin, as it’s a very efficient way of cooling.”

Cadena said that the human forehead is where a large amount of heat is released from the body and is where the body has the highest sweat rate per unit area.

“Since we don’t have hair (on our foreheads), the skin is able to have good contact with the air to cool down. There is increased blood flow during exercise, which is why people turn red because the body sends blood to the face to cool it down.

If you have a cool forehead, it also affects your perception of heat, he said. So, the forehead is specially designed to cool the body down.

“What we’re doing is amplifying what the body has already designed, giving it one more boost to improve it.”

The product’s evolution

Cadena said that from the 2020 Tokyo Olympics to date, his product has received improvements in its durability and adaptability.

“One of these was that parts could be replaced if they were damaged. We also added a reinforcement to improve its durability, since graphite is fragile, like the tip of a pencil. We’ve reached a point where they’re like glasses that you have to take care of.”

He said he would classify this band as a new category of clothing that amplifies your skin, as there is nothing like it on the market.

Cadena illustrated that it’s something similar to the case of running shoes, which improve performance.

He said he’d been in contact with a researcher from Australia with whom he will soon work on a research paper to validate the technology.

“Ultimately, since we don’t pay any professional to use it, that gives me a lot of confidence that it works, because normally they charge a lot for putting something on your head.”

“So, the fact that Kipchoge decided to wear it, I think that’s good validation.”

“So, the fact that Kipchoge decided to wear it, I think that’s good validation.”

The future

Cadena said he’s looking for ways to make the technology cheaper. As it’s new, it’s expensive because new production processes are used.

“(Another part) that really interests me is adapting humans to an increasingly hot planet. There will be more heat waves that will become more intense and more frequent.”

He said he would like his product to be worn by not just athletes but also by ordinary people who like to walk or run in their city.

“Or by farm workers or people who can’t afford to buy air conditioning or the elderly, who can wear something that will allow them to get through a heat wave relatively well.”

His education at the Tec

Cadena said that this idea arose while studying at the Monterrey campus, when he took a book out of the library.

“That’s where I realized that the thermal comfort problem was analyzed with data, with numbers. For example, if you’re sweeping the house, you produce 80 watts of heat. If you’re running, you produce this much, if you have this type of clothing, it’s thermal resistance, and so on.”

“So, I laid out the problem of thermal comfort in the same way that I laid out the problems in my physics classes and that really connected with me, because I always suffered a lot from the heat.”

He said that the Innovation Gym helped him by allowing him to use the machines.

“The Innovation Gym provides you with that first step, those machines and that advice on getting a prototype that gives you a little validation, what you need to be able to raise some investment and then move forward. For me, it was one of the most important things.”

Lastly, he said he’s very proud to say that this band is made with Mexican technology.

“We’re putting Powered by Mexican Tech on the packaging. We should feel proud that it’s Mexican technology and change the world’s perception a little, that we can make very interesting technological advances,” he concluded.

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