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Engineering Marvel of the Winter Olympics: A Broom

KITCHENER, Ontario — Andrew Flemming and Geoff Fowler tinkered for months in their spare time. They used soldering irons. They printed three-dimensional models in their basements. They brainstormed over beers in this small city about 60 miles west of Toronto, where they kept their project quiet.

“We did a fair bit of work in bars,” Flemming said.

Flemming and Fowler, both 29, along with their friend and business partner, Will Hamilton, 37, were pouring their creative energies into a high-tech training device the likes of which the sporting world had never seen.

They were building a better broom.