AI technology transforms global sports
Source: UF News
By Abby Weingarten
Global sports are shifting rapidly, changing how the 2024 Olympics will be played and who will be playing. With new technology emerging and accessibility for athletes improving, sports across the world barely resemble what they did 128 years ago at Athens 1896.
This summer in Paris, France, everything will be different. And as that transformation happens, the experts at the University of Florida will be intently watching, studying, and innovating.
Changing the game
UF – the Sunshine State’s home of the Gators and Gatorade – is already known internationally for its sports prowess. But, in the past year, it has grown into even more of an athletic think tank, with a slew of sports-related strategic initiatives coming to life across campus.
These projects – covering everything from enhancing performance in para-athletes to using AI to collect sports-related health data – are helping shape the evolution of events like the Olympics and the Paralympic Games. What is researched and built at UF will undoubtedly have a ripple effect on the sports arena for decades to come.
“UF is a national leader in sports performance, and we’re ready to showcase our offerings and strengthen our partnerships on a much larger scale,” said UF President Ben Sasse, who launched a $2.5-million UF & Sport Collaborative Strategic Funding Initiative in January.
The undertaking includes five projects: Sport and Health Leaders (a new certification that will increase students’ understanding of athletes), Gator AccelerAItor for Sport Analytics (a move toward a master’s program in AI in Sports Analytics), Gator Nation Gameday Live (an opportunity for students to produce sports broadcasts), AI-Powered Athletics (a program for analyzing student-athlete health data through AI), and Transforming Sport Science Research for Every Body (a research initiative designed around para-athletes).
The latter two projects strongly tie into this year’s Olympics and Paralympics, which focus on incorporating AI and supporting inclusivity. The forward-thinking Paris games will feature the latest audio-visual technologies, as well as augmented and virtual reality, to give fans – onsite and at home – the most immersive viewing experience possible. The games will also open up the playing field to athletes who may not have had access to the events in prior years.
All this progress is signaling a new way to watch and participate in sports, and UF is helping move the needle forward.
Championing inclusivity
“There’s a Place for Everyone in Sport” is one of the headers on the Olympics’ Paris 2024 website – on a page dedicated to “Leveraging the Games to Make Society More Inclusive.”
To read more, click here