Revolutionizing Olympic Outcomes: Omega’s AI Journey from Controversial Calls to Precision Performance Mapping

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Omega's Artificial Intelligence to Decode Success Secrets of Olympic Champions

On the 27th of August, 1960, during the Rome Olympics, a gold medal decision became one of history's most debated moments. In the men's 100-meter freestyle swimming competition, John Devitt from Australia and Lance Larson of the USA finished the race in an identical time of 55.2 seconds. Despite this, only Devitt was declared the winner and received the gold.

Swimming races were timed using a trio of timers per lane, each equipped with a stopwatch, and the final time was determined by calculating the average of these three times. In the event of a tie, which was uncommon, the decision fell to a chief judge, in this instance, Hans Runströmer of Sweden, who had the authority to make a final call. Although Larson had finished a mere one-tenth of a second faster, Runströmer ruled that the times were identical and awarded the victory to Devitt.

By 1968, the debate had prompted Omega to create touch-sensitive pads at the ends of swimming lanes, enabling swimmers to automatically stop their own race times, thus eliminating the possibility of mistakes made by people.

Alain Zobrist, who leads Swiss Timing at Omega—a division with 400 staff members specializing in timing, measuring, or monitoring virtually every sport—has many tales to share.

For instance, by 2024, an innovative approach has been adopted where an electronic starting pistol is linked to speakers positioned behind every runner. This development addresses an issue in races with staggered lanes like the 400-meter sprint, where competitors in the outermost lanes used to perceive the gunshot slightly later than those nearer to it, placing them at a slight setback.

Omega's Scan-o-Vision system can record as many as 40,000 digital frames every second.

Consider how, in the 1940s, when photo finishes first came into use, it required almost two hours to reach a verdict due to the necessity of developing the film. Today, Omega's innovative Scan-o-Vision technology has the capacity to take as many as 40,000 digital snapshots every second, enabling officials to deliver decisions within a matter of minutes.

Delving into the nuances or the minutiae of time, Swiss Timing has transcended the basic task of merely clocking a race's duration. Though the Omega emblem has adorned all timing apparatuses at the Olympics since 1932, with the exceptions of 1964 and 1992 when Seiko stepped in, the role of Swiss Timing extends far beyond recording mere start and stop times. "Our role is to narrate the event's journey, not merely its outcome," Zobrist explains. Looking ahead to Paris 2024, this narrative approach is poised to include a significantly broader array of storylines than ever before.

"2018 marked a significant turning point for us," Zobrist reflects. "It was the year we began incorporating motion sensors into athletes' apparel, enabling us to capture the complete performance dynamics—from the beginning to the end."

The devices provided measurements not only of distance but also tracked the number of steps, peak velocities, rates of speeding up and slowing down, as well as the effect of wind from behind. When it came to swimming, they were capable of recording the number of strokes. Packed into a device that weighed 12 grams were some 2,000 pieces of information, all of which could be sent in under 0.1 seconds. This information could subsequently be shared with both coaches and the athletes, serving as a resource for improving their training techniques.

In Paris, Swiss Timing is employing artificial intelligence to interpret the data in real-time, aiming to construct a storyline of the race. This narrative is intended for use by the competitors, as well as by social media platforms and broadcasters.

The major innovation lies in the utilization of past data. Zobrist highlights, "You're now able to incorporate data from past events to forecast an athlete's future performance. AI has the capability to evaluate individual performances and benchmark them against others. Essentially, we're capturing a sequence of events over time." Zobrist has mentioned that Swiss Timing will significantly improve in pinpointing the frontrunners with greater precision, monitor and assess their progress during the race, and subsequently juxtapose this information with that of other competitors, thereby delineating the factors contributing to an athlete's victory or defeat at various stages of the competition.

However, beyond the flashy new visual effects and enhanced analytics, the standout advancement might be the capabilities Zobrist and his crew have developed with body-imaging technology. Four years prior, when body imaging first came on the scene, the graphics were basic, reminiscent of simplistic sketches by a novice. Today, Swiss Timing boasts a technology it refers to as "computer vision": a setup of one or several cameras that capture footage and input it into AI algorithms tailored for individual sports, generating highly detailed and realistic body images (imagine the Silver Surfer from the Fantastic Four, but adorned in Omega’s signature red).

Omega's diving event AI will monitor competitors throughout their entire dive, creating a three-dimensional representation and calculating key statistics like the speed at which they enter the water.

Zobrist demonstrates with video clips how artificial intelligence creates lifelike animations of divers executing flawless rotations and gymnastic maneuvers. During these dives, the technology follows the diver's movement from start to finish, creating a three-dimensional representation through a unique mathematical formula. Simultaneously, it compiles image-based data and performance statistics, including the diver's speed as they enter the water. Additionally, this technology offers judges a precise measurement of the gap between the diver and the diving board. This gap, which was once estimated visually and could lead to scoring penalties if not correctly judged, can now be accurately assessed.

In tennis, the system will not only monitor the players live but also analyze their response to serves—examining the speed of the return, the angle of the racket, and the precision of the shot. This information will help identify if there's a link between a player's performance and how they react to a serve, moving beyond simply evaluating match results based on the strength of the serves.

In pole vaulting, the artificial intelligence system will calculate the distance between the competitor and the bar to determine its impact on the quality of the jump.

In the sport of pole vaulting, a new method will be introduced to evaluate the distance between the competitor and the bar, aiming to understand its impact on the quality of the jump. Regarding gymnastics, an advanced multi-camera setup will monitor the movements of gymnasts as they perform spins, flips, and aerial maneuvers. The artificial intelligence designed for this discipline has been uniquely tailored to follow the structure of the human body, enabling an analysis of how the positioning of the athlete's feet influences the rotation during jumps.

"The quantity of cameras utilized varies by sport, based on our specific measurement goals. Consequently, the number of required computers fluctuates accordingly," Zobrist detailed. "For instance, swimming competitions utilize four cameras, whereas beach volleyball can employ as many as 16. However, the distinctive feature of our technology lies not in the hardware, but in our proprietary software. We tailor algorithms for each sport and refine AI models for specific scenarios, which truly represents the core of our computer vision technology. The computers we use are conventional models."

Swiss Timing states that its latest software has incorporated data gathered from a wide array of sporting competitions over many years to accurately track athlete movements. This includes information from local sports meets, national tournaments, and major global competitions, like the athletics Diamond League, where Omega serves as the official timekeeper.

Nonetheless, similar to any computer technology, artificial intelligence has its limitations. During the Olympics, its application in critical moments could be the deciding factor between securing a medal or heading back home early.

In tennis, the artificial intelligence system will display the athletes' responses to serves by examining the speed of the return, the placement of the racket, and the precision of the shot.

Zobrist states, "Our program is designed to identify any unforeseen irregularities during the measurement procedure. This allows the timing team to either adjust it by hand or have the system automatically handle it. We ensure that no data is ever lost. It's consistently preserved and organized for accurate evaluation."

Even though the launch of the Paris Olympics is merely days ahead, the groundwork for the upcoming two Olympic events is already underway. Nevertheless, Zobrist remains reserved about the specific advancements expected to be showcased. "We are just embarking on this journey of innovation in the realm of sports timing, and Omega is fully prepared with a strategic plan for the forthcoming Olympic Games, including Milano Cortina in 2026 and Los Angeles in 2028. At this point, since these projects are in their early stages, we're not in a position to disclose any further information."

The creation of the touchpad system in swimming eliminated the necessity for a large group of officials and timekeepers at poolside. Therefore, with the advancement of technology, does Zobrist believe that the role of humans in sports timing will become redundant in the near future?

"He indicates a change is coming, emphasizing the desire to minimize human emotional responses," he mentions. "However, humans will remain essential for initialization. At the very least, to oversee the operations of the machinery."

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