How the use of sensors changed over the past 20 years in Olympic disciplines

Dario Dalla Vedova, Valentina Becchi, Valerio Carlozzi - CONI

Abstract

The world of sport is continually changing and the use of technology is just one of those areas that has made an impact on many sports in modern days. The role of technology is almost irreplaceable, not only in F1 or America’s Cup races but even in the Olympic competitions. More powerful, smaller and cheaper sensors make possible to deeply record and understand the human movement or the forces exchanged with the external constrains. But top level sport performance is much more than the sum of few, controlled variables and not all the problems may be solved with analytical approaches. Many different variables working at different levels contribute to the final result. The researchers have to face three worlds, different but linked each other in complex ways: Physics, Biology and Environment. The physical problems are of extraordinary complexity and difficulty; Biology requires adequate tools to be modeled and analyzed as not all human characteristics are directly measurable as variables and, sometimes, can be thought only as hypothetical multi factorial constructs as it happens for “sport technique”. Sports environments are sources of a lot of variability so that it is impossible to simulate the real outcomes beyond a certain level of accuracy and reproduce any phenomena having effects on human performance in sport. So replication - the golden standard of Science – it is often a very difficult target to obtain. More, the researchers have to match together internal and external validity. Internal validity refers to control and measurement of involved variables, external validity is related to test conditions that should be as similar as possible to competition ones. Especially in top level sports, it is difficult to match these two requirements. In turn, Athletes are more accurate than any available sensor but it is not easy to objectify, generalize, and transfer their impressions. Thus non invasive, small and wearable devices are a great tool to monitor trainings and performances helping Athletes and Coaches. 

Founded in 1963, the Institute of Sport Medicine and Sport Science "Antonio Venerando" is the medical and scientific structure of the Italian National Olympic Committee (CONI) with the institutional task of taking care of elite athletes' health and to provide scientific knowledge to the National Sport Federations in order to prevent the injuries and improve the overall sport performance in regards to Olympic and high level competitions. Until his foundation, the Institute made customized devices for study of sports performance like swimming flume, wind tunnel, ergometers, sensors. In recent years the Institute produces what it needs in collaboration with specialized industries or looks for new technologies on the market. The aim of this presentation is to show some of projects carried out by the CONI in collaboration with the Italian Olympic National Federations.  

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