How wearable sensors helped the US Olympic team win 121 medals in Rio

At the end of the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, the United States came out with the most medals, claiming 46 gold, 37 silver and 38 bronze for a total of 121 - almost double the number of second-placed Great Britain with 67 medals.

Of the 121 medals, the track and field team won 32 and the top players in the country won medals with two teams 33-65. The two teams fall under the "sports mix" mandate of USOC senior sports technologist Phil Cheetham.

Cheetham has a responsibility to ensure that elite athletes perform to their full potential, especially utilizing technology and wearables to make this happen.

Speaking at the WT Wearable Technology Conference in Sydney in December 2017, Cheetham said he had spent a lot of time preparing athletes on the world stage in terms of innovation and technology.

"We formed a technology and innovation team about a year ago, and we had independent funding, so I had the opportunity to start working on all kinds of different new technologies that could help us improve the performance of our athletes," he explained.

He later explained, "It doesn't matter what technology it is, if it's going to help us improve performance, if it's going to help us win medals, then we're looking at it, and that's all sports.

Chetham, a gymnast on the Australian Olympic team at the Montreal and Moscow Olympics, is based at the Athlete Training Center in Chula Vista, California. His athletic program included what he called a "mash-and-match" left over from the separation of disciplines: swimming, track and field, weightlifting, equestrianism and shooting.

In athletics, Chettum shared the stories of two shot putters, Ryan Crouser and Joe Kovacs, who won gold and silver respectively in Rio in 2016.

Radar technology that emits Doppler radar pulses can watch the projected velocity as it is projected, giving us velocity, take-off altitude, range and other parameters. he explained. “This is the one that helped us win Rio gold and silver. "

Crouser and Kovacs use radar technology to measure their throws; they also receive live video of the shot they just threw so they can analyze their performance.

Sensors immediately collect and report the athlete's throw height, distance, speed, angle and direction, as well as a map of the area showing the throw in addition to the video.

"In the past, we used to give them a USB drive or CDs and DVDs, which were very hard to come by and you would lose them all the time," Cheetham explained.

“Cloud computing is much more accessible now, we upload it to the cloud, come home at night, download it from the cloud or watch it online – it’s very easy.

Cheetham said: "In fact, they don't even watch them on a computer ... all of our athletes do everything on their phones now, so if the phones aren't compatible, you're ancient history.

For Cheetham, in terms of the application of wearable technology, it is important that it is useful and not interfere with training.

"If it's not properly applied, it's going to be thrown out, and I've seen that happen a lot," he said. "Athletes -- I don't want to say they're head coaches, that's too harsh -- they don't want to be fucked during training. To smash so we don't interrupt their work, you have to be almost invisible to the athletes."

He also found that during the process, the equipment needs to be attached quickly and easily, which is usually on the garment, so the athlete doesn't even know they're being measured.

"They can't think about these things, they just need to train," he added.

Before the Olympics, putters had three electromagnetic sensors placed on the back, hip and wrist. However, "adaptation" prevented the introduction of radar technology, which was initially used in parallel.

Throwing coaches are a different story when athletes start to adopt the technology.

"The throwing coach is the best in the world, but he's kind of old school and doesn't like the concept of technique." Oh, I can see, I know what's going on, I'm a coach, I've been doing it for 20 years, I don't Any such technology was needed," recalls Cheetham.

Cheetham convinced the coach that adding technique would eliminate his need to use a tape measure.

"We sold it to him, we put sugar in the meds, and we fed it to him," Cheetham said. "The good thing is, he'll get measurements right after pitching, and about a month later he starts Consider other data. "

As an example, Cheetham also joined the diving team as a biomechanic who sees the application of technology in improving synchronicity.

With an inertial measurement unit (IMU) sensor, divers can record data points such as top speed, maximum twist speed and takeoff angle.

"The technology, while in the prototype stage, really allowed us to measure these technologies and we ended up with two medals," Cheetham said.

"In the future, we now have some concepts to put inertial sensors under the diving board, which will be a biofeedback tool linked to video," he said.

Now, Crouser and Kovacs are within centimeters of the world record, and Cheetham believes technology is the way to beat the long-held title.