Check out the "invisible" champions behind this Olympics
This issue's introduction
This "long overdue" Olympic Games officially closed last week. I'm sure many viewers are still not satisfied. In this issue, let's review the highlights of this Olympic Games from a technological perspective:
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How do today's athletes train and compete more scientifically?
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In what ways have technological means improved the viewing experience for us, the “spectators” outside the stadium?
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For a relatively "low-social" Olympics, what new things can the power of technology bring both inside and outside the stadium?
The 32nd Olympic Games has come to an end. In the past half month, everyone's mood must have been up and down with the intense competition. Now with the end of the Olympics, everyone's mood has gradually calmed down, and more rational reviews surrounding this Olympic Games have followed.
The Olympic cycle is four years, and if the successful hosting of the Olympics is regarded as the end point, then in the process of moving towards this end, the role of various driving forces is particularly important, among which technology is a key force that cannot be ignored. Today, we will start from the three core scenarios to take stock of the "mysterious" technological forces hidden behind this Olympic Games.
For the Olympics, competition naturally occupies the undisputed center position. How to achieve good results and win gold and silver medals in the competition is what all sports teams think about day and night.
After the Chinese swimming team won the gold medal in the women's 4x200m freestyle relay, the "black technology" behind this impressive achievement was also revealed: the national swimming team cooperated with companies in the aerospace field to successfully graft the inertial technology previously used in aircraft into swimming training. Through a data acquisition and wireless transceiver weighing only 16g and with a waterproof rating of IPx7, the athlete's posture, breathing, and multiple technical parameters in the swimming pool, such as stroke frequency, stroke width, stroke times, turn time, etc., are monitored in real time, and integrated with other data to conduct a detailed and quantitative evaluation of each action, so as to make targeted improvements.
Advanced sensing and big data analysis technologies help the Chinese swimming team win the championship
(Photo source: People's Daily Online)
The above success story reveals a very important message: talent and hard work are no longer the only factors for improving competitive sports performance today. The role of scientific training based on big data analysis is becoming increasingly important .
In this Olympic Games, the application of big data not only affects the athletes themselves, but also plays an extremely critical role in the collection and analysis of athletes' competition environment information.
After Chinese athlete Lu Yunxiu won the women's windsurfing RS:X class championship, the Chinese Sailing Association sent a special letter of thanks to Fudan University. This is because Fudan University's scientific research team conducted a field survey of the Olympic windsurfing competition site as early as 2019 (originally planned to be one year before the official start of the 2020 Olympics), and obtained a large amount of first-hand data such as changes in sea surface wind speed and wind direction, differences in sea water flow speed and flow direction distribution at different locations in the same venue, providing strong guarantees for the final competition.
After obtaining a large amount of data, it is more important to organize and analyze the data, build scientific models, and even make predictions, and then provide scientific training and competition plans. In this regard, artificial intelligence (AI) technology is playing a positive role.
For example, in the training of Chinese table tennis, "AI coaches" have been introduced . In the most time-consuming and labor-intensive serving training, the AI serving robot can imitate the human coach's ability to serve naturally and feed multiple balls, and analyze the trajectory of table tennis through algorithms, mark the players' playing postures, and conduct targeted training accordingly. In this way, the athlete's own strengths and weaknesses can be quickly discovered, and the technical qualitative analysis can be achieved. Compared with the traditional "artificial sparring", this has taken a step forward in terms of scientificity and effectiveness.
In short, from training to competition, the power of technology is now everywhere in the Olympic arena, and the technological content behind each medal is getting higher and higher.
The earliest television broadcast of the Olympic Games can be traced back to the 1948 London Olympics, although there were only 4,559 televisions in the UK at that time.
Since then, television, as a visual medium, has not only enabled billions of Olympic viewers around the world to gain a deeper sense of participation "from a distance", but has also brought huge commercial value to the Olympics. Therefore, in the preparations for each Olympic Games, the guarantee of television broadcasting and the improvement of users' viewing experience are top priorities, which naturally provides an entry point for technology.
This Olympics can be regarded as the first Olympics in the 5G era, so 5G services will naturally be regarded as the focus of infrastructure construction . Overall, this Olympics has delivered a good answer sheet. 5G networks have played an important role in high-definition signal transmission, enhancing interactive experience, and supporting intelligent operations. For example, in the sailing competition, 4K cameras installed on drones and sailboats were used for shooting, and then the real-time streaming signals were transmitted through 5G and presented on the 50-meter giant screen on site.
As a supporting technology for modern IT, cloud computing has also played an indispensable role in this Olympic Games. It is estimated that the 17-day schedule of this Tokyo Olympic Games, plus the opening and closing ceremonies and other related events, will generate 9,500 hours of sports broadcasts, of which sports live broadcasts will account for about 4,000 hours, an increase of about 30% over the Olympic Games, which also generates a huge data processing load.
OBS Cloud, a cloud broadcasting platform jointly built by Alibaba Cloud and Olympic Broadcasting Services (OBS), is based on advanced cloud computing technology, which has reduced the area of the International Broadcasting Center of the Tokyo Olympics by 25% and reduced the number of on-site staff by 27% . This move has also been publicly praised by IOC President Bach.
OBS Cloud brings a new experience to Olympic TV broadcasting
(Photo source: Qilu Evening News)
Unlike big moves like 5G and cloud computing, some subtle technological innovations on the field have also brought about changes that are equally surprising.
For example, in gymnastics and other competitions, the television broadcast of this Olympics will play a 360-degree replay video after the athletes complete their movements , allowing viewers in front of the TV to watch the details of the athletes' technical movements without blind spots, providing a different viewing experience than ever before.
This technology was developed by 4DREPLAY, which deploys 50 to 120 special cameras in the stadium to capture the athletes' movements in real time, and quickly edits and processes the content data and presents it in the live broadcast. It is reported that this 360-degree video playback technology has been used in 11 stadiums and 50 sports events. Judging from the current results and audience feedback, it will also be applied to a wider range of fields in the future.
Based on advanced visual processing technology, a biometric data system was introduced in the archery competition of this Olympic Games . It uses high-speed cameras to capture all the subtle facial expressions and blood rushing of athletes, and conducts data analysis based on this, remotely calculates the athlete's heart rate, and displays this data on the TV screen. This allows the audience to feel the ups and downs of the athletes' inner emotions under the "calm" appearance during the competition, making such relatively "quiet" competitions more enjoyable to watch.
The ultimate goal of the above-mentioned technologies is to allow the audience in front of the TV screen to have a deeper sense of participation and thereby generate stronger empathy. Even if they cannot be on the scene, they can still feel the shock and fun brought by sports events - this is even more meaningful in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic when many competitions can only be held in "empty stanzas".
In fact, the impact of the epidemic on the Olympics is not limited to the competition. The Olympics is not only a grand event in the global sports world, but also a large sports social platform. Even without medals, athletes, media reporters, spectators and other participants can use this social platform to enhance communication and make friends. However, due to the epidemic, out of consideration for maintaining social distance, the "social" function of this Olympics has been greatly weakened, which is a great pity.
However, we see that the power of technology is working to make up for this shortcoming.
In previous Olympic Games, the exchange of Olympic Pins was a traditional social program, but it was cancelled due to the epidemic. However, among the Olympic media reporters, a "digital cloud Pin" has quietly become popular .
Olympic Digital Cloud Badge (Photo source: CCTV News)
When you get such an NFC-based digital cloud badge, you can DIY your own digital business card; when you meet other new friends, you only need to stretch your arms and touch each other's cloud badges at a safe social distance to complete the exchange of digital business cards; you can also compete through the social ranking list among friends and strive to become a social expert in the Olympics. At the same time, this cloud badge also has a step counting function, which can be regarded as another record of the hard work of media people who are busy in the Olympic arena.
Although the technical difficulty of such "gadgets" is not high, they can make people feel the warmth of technology - technology does not make people more and more distant, but can become a new bond to bring people closer. This actually reflects another important value of the Olympics beyond competition.
Although this Olympics is over, the technological forces that have effectively improved sports performance, ensured the smooth hosting of the Olympics, or enhanced the viewing experience of Olympic fans have actually stepped onto another "podium" and left a deep impression on people. The new Olympic cycle has started. In the next Olympics, what technologies and solutions will become the "champions" hidden behind the medals? Let us wait and see!
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