Olympic Games 2024: What role for French scientists?

Changed on 20/12/2024

Leave nothing to chance when it comes to winning medals. In the run-up to the Paris 2024 Olympic Games, find out how the digital sciences are helping top-level athletes prepare, from optimising their performance and recovery to preventing injury.

With the Paris 2024 Olympic Games fast approaching, athletes are fine-tuning the final details in the hope of climbing to the top of the podium in their discipline and category. While every detail counts, digital sciences are playing a crucial role in this preparation, providing valuable data, developing innovative tools and techniques, and facilitating a more personalised and efficient approach to training and competition.

Over the next few months, and right up to the opening of the Paris 2024 Olympic Games, Inria and its partners will be publishing a new article every fortnight, enabling you to discover the different facets of scientific support for top-level sportsmen and women, both in terms of improving their performance and preventing injury or seeking optimum recovery.

Transcript (in French only)

Find out how our scientists support athletes

Sport and digital technology: how can athletes prevent injuries?

Preventing sports-related injuries has become a major concern in the preparation of top-level athletes. Digital science research has taken up this challenge.

Démonstration du projet d'entrainement de boxe en réalité virtuelle - MIMETIC - VIsuel Sport Unlimitech Rennes mars 2024

How research helps push athletes' limits

Digital science research today offers an arsenal of tools and techniques that are revolutionising the training and performance enhancement of top-level athletes.

Data in sport: what challenges for research?

While the data collected in the world of sport represents an immense opportunity for athletes and coaches, it also raises questions about the confidentiality, security and reliability of this information.

Démo ShareSpace en réalité virtuelle avec un ergocycle pour simuler une attaque de pelotin pour une échappée

Break away from the pack with Extended Reality

As part of the European ShareSpace project, the MimeTIC project team from the Inria Centre at the University of Rennes is developing a use case in which cyclists train to break away from the pack.

Sport and concussion: science to help doctors

Focus on the work of Anne-Hélène Olivier, a researcher in the VirtUs project team, dedicated to the lingering effects of concussion in rugby players.

‘Fan zones and security: virtual reality to support organisers

How can we ensure that ‘fan zones’, such as those for the Paris 2024 Olympic Games, are suitable, welcoming and safe for everyone?

Enhancing videos of sporting competitions using data

It is increasingly common to see information such as athletes’ names, current records, ball speeds, etc. appear on screen during broadcasts of sporting events. But is this data actually relevant? Is it presented well for viewers?

Virtual reality: what role in high-level sport?

Sports federations, long sceptical about the arrival of virtual reality in their field, are now very interested in the benefits of this technology for the training of athletes.