All the technical equipment used during the 10km Open Water British medal swims at the Beijing Olympics, such as the feeding poles and the communication devices were developed and/or supplied by White Dolphin Technology. They also regularly analysed the stroke techniques, starts and turns of Rebecca Adlington (2 Golds), Cassandra Patten (2 Bronze), Keri-Anne Payne (Silver) and David Davies (Silver) during their preparations for the games, using the White Dolphin camera buggy system to optimise performance.
With credit to Steven Munatones and www.10kswimmer.com re:
The USA Swimming national open water swimming team also use customized feeding sticks (also referred to as feeding poles). The feeding sticks pictured can extend out to 12 feet (3.6m) and are used from escort boats, feeding pontoons, piers and docks.
The feeding stick has a double cup holder for coaches to put in two cups or bottles or a variety of fuel sources – like gel packs, bananas, chocolate, goggles – or whatever the swimmer wants.