Premium broadcasts, cloud, AI, training tools… all of this ushers in the next wave of digital wizardry

Spectators take snapshots of the Eiffel Tower after a beach volleyball match at a nearby stadium during Paris 2024. (WEI XIAOHAO/CHINA DAILY)

Paris 2024 will be remembered as much for the medal-winning performances of the athletes, the unforgettable ceremonies, the fantastic venues and the breathtaking logistics as for the contributions of Chinese technology companies, which experts say enriched the quadrennial event like never before and impressed everyone involved – competitors, organisers, coaches, officials, spectators, television and online audiences, media, advertisers and sponsors.

Chinese companies have used cloud computing and artificial intelligence in innovative ways in areas ranging from immersive live broadcast experiences to training athletes, improving their performance and potentially transforming future sporting events.

Experts also said that the strong participation of Chinese companies in the prestigious sporting event demonstrates their growing technological prowess and ability to innovate independently. This will help enhance their international recognition and influence while increasing their global competitiveness.

More than two-thirds of the live broadcast signals during the Paris Games were distributed via the cloud broadcasting services of Chinese technology heavyweight Alibaba Group – a milestone in the history of Olympic broadcasts.

The cloud computing platform has replaced satellite transmission, which was first introduced during the 1964 Tokyo Olympics, and has become the primary method of long-distance distribution to broadcasters.

Alibaba Cloud, the cloud computing arm of Alibaba, a global partner of the Paris Olympic Games, and Olympic Broadcasting Services have jointly launched OBS Cloud 3.0 to help media companies obtain images and videos of the Games. OBS, a subsidiary of the International Olympic Committee (IOC), oversees the distribution of coverage of the events.

A record-breaking 11,000 hours of Olympic Games footage were distributed to over 200 countries and regions using Alibaba Cloud’s global cloud infrastructure, reaching billions of viewers around the world.

Cloud-based technology will revolutionize global media. Before this technological breakthrough, broadcasters had to rely on special and more expensive international fiber optic cables and spend a lot of time setting up equipment to send live footage halfway around the world to their home countries.

In September 2018, Alibaba Cloud launched OBS Cloud in collaboration with OBS, supporting the broadcasts of the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games and the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics.

The company also provided AI-powered multi-camera playback systems at the Paris Games to enhance the spectator experience. These systems were deployed at 14 venues for 21 sports and disciplines, including badminton, athletics, basketball, beach volleyball and table tennis.

The systems enabled frame-by-frame replays of athletes’ performances in slow motion, providing viewers around the world with a more immersive experience by transforming live footage into precise 3D models and giving sports fans access to detailed information for deeper analysis of performances.

Paris 2024 will be the first Summer Olympics to use AI technology on a large scale. The IOC has called AI a game-changer and in April unveiled the Olympic AI Agenda, which outlines the expected impact of AI on sport.

Thomas Bach, IOC President, highlighted the key areas in which AI has been used at this year’s Olympic Games, including protecting against cyber abuse, creating video highlights in multiple formats and languages, and implementing a sophisticated data collection and energy management system to improve sustainability.

Chinese technology giant Baidu Inc. has offered the Chinese national diving team an AI-powered supplementary training system based on its ChatGPT-like product and large language model Ernie Bot, helping the team achieve good results.

“The AI ​​system enables timely replay and scoring,” said Quan Hongchan, who was victorious in the women’s 10m platform diving. She added that the diving training system can be used to refine a diver’s movements during daily training, providing her with additional coaching support.

The diving training system can understand complex instructions from coaches, record athletes’ diving posture and actions, and evaluate their movements in real time to provide precise quantitative evaluation and scientific guidance for training and competition, said Wang Haifeng, Baidu’s technical director.

Baidu explained that the AI ​​system starts collecting and recording information as soon as athletes step onto the diving board and stops recording as soon as they reach the water surface.

High-speed videos can be fed back to trainers’ tablets in real time, and the system can analyze jumping actions in 3D space using 3D modeling technology that supports 360-degree free rotation for viewing, making training more scientific and effective.

Wang Peng, a researcher at the Beijing Academy of Social Sciences, said: “The use of cutting-edge digital technology from China at the Paris Games has enhanced the spectator experience for sports enthusiasts around the world and demonstrated the leading position of Chinese companies in the technology industry and their strengths in technological innovation.”

By participating in the world’s largest multi-sport event and providing technical support for it, Chinese technology companies have increased their brand awareness and influence in the international market, Wang said.

Their participation will give a wider audience abroad the opportunity to learn about the country’s rapid progress in cloud computing and artificial intelligence, and promote the digital transformation and modernization of international sporting events, he said.

Data from market consulting firm Mordor Intelligence shows that revenue from AI applications in the sports industry worldwide will increase from $5.93 billion in 2024 to $20.94 billion in 2029, representing a compound annual growth rate of 28.69 percent.

The consultancy said AI will be used to analyse data and engage fans, while insights gained through in-game data analysis will help teams change their strategies.

Shen Yang, a professor at the School of Journalism and Communication at Tsinghua University, said AI technology can play a supporting role in athletes’ daily training, psychological assessments and event simulation by providing more precise and intelligent services, thereby further improving athletes’ performance.