The day when Olympic records will stop falling is far from coming. Due to advances in technology, of course. Also by learning, not to train more, but to train athletes better. But above all, by individualizing their coaching in order to better take into account the characteristics specific to each of them.
French swimmer Leon Marchand sent eyes popping and the walls of the Olympic pool trembling Monday as he cruised through the 400m individual medley final to win his first Olympic gold medal in his first event at the Paris Games. The 22-year-old prodigy in the process erased the Olympic record set 16 years earlier by the legendary Michael Phelps. The Frenchman had gone 0.45 seconds faster last year when he set a new world record (4:02.50). And the Olympic competition is only just beginning, experts warn.
But aren’t these moments destined to become increasingly rare? Aren’t we inevitably approaching the moment when it will no longer be possible for human beings, even the most gifted and powerful among them, to go even faster, higher and stronger? François Bieuzen, the director of sports sciences at the Institut national du sport du Québec (INS), doesn’t think so.
“We are far from having explored all the possibilities offered by the human body. In the world in which we work, there is a constant search for innovation and creativity in the way of improving the performance of this body while respecting its health.”
Train better
One naturally thinks of technological innovations in the design of athletes’ shoes, swimsuits, skis, skates, bows, boats and other equipment, as well as the surfaces on which they run or slide.
We also think of medical science and sports physiology, which allow us to break down and analyze each gesture and technical element in order to detect and test possible improvements. We also talk about better understanding and monitoring the functioning of the body in order to develop training techniques that are both more effective and less likely to cause injuries or premature fatigue.
“This whole question of the nature and dosage of training is very important,” explains the head doctor of the Canadian team in Paris, Suzanne Leclerc. “It’s not because an athlete’s training volume is higher that they will necessarily perform better. And if it leads to more injuries, you will not be any further ahead.”
Virtual world and AI
In any case, the head of Research and Innovation at the INS, Thomas Romeas, believes that the greatest improvements in the performance of elite athletes will come from the development of knowledge on the best way to train them, particularly through technology.
For example, athletes have been trained in overheated rooms for some time now to develop their resistance to heat. In the absence of training at altitude, hypoxic chambers are also being built in which athletes can run on treadmills, pedal on stationary bikes or box in air containing less oxygen in order to increase their bodies’ ability to transport it in the blood.
Digital and virtual reality technologies also allow runners or boxers to train with virtual avatars whose level and characteristics can reproduce those of future opponents. In the case of boxing, this comes with the advantage of increasing the opportunities to confront (virtually) opponents in the ring while reducing the exposure of athletes to blows to the head.
Advanced statistics and artificial intelligence make it possible to dissect every move, analyze other teams’ play patterns and prevent training overload and injury risks.
Quebec has no reason to be ashamed of the research and technological innovations brought to this field, thanks in particular to the INS in partnership with other university researchers, believes Thomas Romeas. However, the bulk of the research is conducted elsewhere, particularly in the United States and Australia. And the sports that invest the most resources are obviously the richest, that is to say professional sports, such as soccer, basketball or American football.
An individualized approach
Improving sports performance “can happen from anywhere,” summarizes François Bieuzen. But for him, the most important advances will come from a change of approach that covers all these factors, technological or otherwise. It will be a matter, he says, of learning to adopt an individualized approach to the athlete in order to adapt to his or her own strengths and characteristics.
“The 100m race is a good example,” he explains. “For a long time, the typical profile of a runner was an athlete between 1.75m and 1.80m, all muscles. The others were put through the mill and thrown out of the system. Then Usain Bolt came along, who was much taller, with very long segments. This guy didn’t have the typical profile. But individualized training adapted to his characteristics allowed him to become an exceptional athlete.”
So, with greater openness to different types of athletes and development methods adapted to their particular physical and mental characteristics, “there is a much greater chance that we will obtain ultra-high-performance and truly exceptional athletes,” the expert insists. “In short, we are still capable of going very far.”
This report was financed with the support of the Transat International Journalism Fund-The duty.