AI in Sports: The New Doping Threat?

And athletes and federations have understood that the incorporation of these intelligent systems is an opportunity and almost an obligation. In the race to the finish line, the supplies used to be nutrition, psychology, rest, altitude training and biomechanics, now they are devices that offer millions of data in real time so that human decisions can be made more objectively and instantly.

They are not coming to robotize sport, yet, but to help, as is being done in the Winter Sports Federation, incorporating technologies to be more effective in aspects such as training optimization, image analysis and injury recovery. «We have a battery of devices that provide us with data (GPS sensors, accelerometers) that we did not have before; The AI ​​analyzes them and gives us information about whether the training is being executed well; or allows you to replicate situations that the athlete will encounter. It has also streamlined the viewing of images, which crosses the data obtained with that collected by other devices and gives us that objective vision that allows us to decide more accurately,” he explains to ABC. Fernando Vicentehead of digitalization.

The Athletics Federation has developed, IA-Athletics, with IBM and Habber Tec, a pioneering method that integrates data from several applications, including video and image, to facilitate access to information and concentrate it on a single device. “It is transforming data into knowledge and knowledge into performance, and this tool integrates data from different sources that serves as a tool to make the best decisions, to maximize performance and minimize injuries,” he explained. Raul Chapadopresident of the RFEA, in the presentation.

They have started with sports such as walking, but they want to add variables that can be used for other disciplines such as hurdles and throwing. The other novelty is that they want it to be democratic and have access to it to work with coaches of all categories.

There has always been data, but AI has minimized search and collection times and maximized results and options. “We have evolutionary qualities that we cannot replicate, but we can create something similar that makes our way of working more effective: more performance in sport, preventing injuries, selecting or personalizing training or avoiding some mistakes, so that the behavior of athletes can improve,” says Ipiña.

You know it well Fernando Rivascoach of Carolina Marín, always at the forefront of innovation to help the Huelva native become number 1 in badminton. Now he is focused on the Unified Sports AI project, which processes the physical load, tactical patterns, biomechanics, recovery and psychological profile of each athlete in real time and is developed by the company Paravium.

«Fernando had osteoarthritis in his right index finger from clicking the mouse so much. He investigated all the data and realized that there was a pattern in the play of Carolina’s rivals. Because we all have it: we do things for a reason. In addition, he asked himself the right questions so that the data would lead him to a solution and a strategy that could help Carolina over her rivals,” he says. Nacho Larribaengineer and CEO of Paravium.

«It offers perspectives that could not be achieved before: the player has an idea on the field; the coach has a slightly further vision; But AI has a global image and from all angles that neither of the other two can contemplate or control,” says Ipiña.

Thus, on the playing field the numbers are transformed into tables on which one can decide reliably, and avoid what subjectivity cannot achieve. Several sports federations are putting it into practice thanks to the incorporation of a smart suit prototype with which they acquire valuable information to face days of action, technique, tactics, efficiency of performance and effort, but also during hours of rest and with the ball stopped. «They optimize training time; If the data says that the athlete is reaching his limit, we avoid overtraining. We have also incorporated sensors for the physiological part: when there are no injuries, to prevent them; when there are, to see how it goes and how it can be recovered sooner,” adds Vicente, from the RFEDI.

Where is the emotion?

Between three and five million pieces of data are collected in football matches, explains Javier Gildirector of AI Implementation and Development at LaLiga. «We create models to provide different tools that help coaching staffs to facilitate the rotation of players, to prevent injuries because we give them effort thresholds… This allows footballers to be more competitive and perform better. That is why the Spanish league is one of the most attractive,” Gil emphasizes, but also clarifies: “AI allows us to automate tasks and generate enormous workflows in which humans do not contribute as much value; so the effort, commitment and emotion are going to stand out even more.

With all these millions of data, the final decision about a tactic, a training session or a change falls on a coach, a captain or the athlete himself who decides based on a machine that, today, is still irreplaceable: his brain, full of cables that interact with the skin, with the lungs, with the heart and with emotion. “The machine quantifies you, but you must interpret,” says Ipiña. The data is not information. If they are rich they can help improve, but entering a million pieces of information will not improve the process or win a match. The human being here is irreplaceable.

Emotion and instinct jump onto the field, other fundamental components that coexist with goals, points, ranking, height, speed and a thousand more numerical variables. It is the only piece that escapes any measurement. Although less and less. The experts consulted are divided: those who assure, like Rivas, that “algorithms even teach us to perceive empathy or understand emotions”, or Labarga: “They are chemical reactions and they are still atoms, so, honestly, emotions can be simulated.” Ipiña, for example, believes that not everything is in the numbers. “Technically it may be perfect, but you can’t replicate human intelligence.”

In this current he also speaks Albert MinguillonCOO of Atos, who explains: «Even with all the data at our disposal we made mistakes. We have the perfect strategy, but the team loses because the player did not see the ball in time, or because the stadium was empty or cheering against. All of that affects and everything changes. In data, context matters a lot. That human spontaneity will continue to make sport attractive because of the uncertainty it generates in us. As long as people play, there will always be a human, uncontrollable variable. “The day people don’t play, we won’t be talking about sports, we’ll be talking about something else.”

The perfect athlete

It is a variant, psychology, that is still being explored, although there are already programs, explains Gil, that monitor certain attitudes of athletes regarding their state of mind based on words or expressions that can be interpreted to reach a therapeutic point and protect mental health. “We must move in that direction, but take into account the limitations and risks,” emphasizes the LaLiga expert.

If there is data to quantify the perfect training load, to adjust effort thresholds, to limit excesses and defects of demand, can a perfect athlete be created from scratch? Experts speculate because there are still no limits to what can be achieved with AI, but there are imponderables that are still beyond control, such as talent. «To predict these things and remain human, I think it is impossible. Even the perfect player will open a window, let in a little air and catch an unexpected cold,” Minguillón simplifies.

«Not without having talent. If you have the capacity and virtue to develop it, yes. The great players, like Nadal, have gotten there because they have self-managed the effort and emotion,” says Gil. «What is a super athlete? May it win you a whole year or win you in ten years? What do you intend to get out of that person over the years? We can improve performance, but you have to have the features. AI can help you. How to lengthen your professional career and make it as fruitful as possible: or ensure that you earn almost everything in one year. In an orchestra, would you replace the conductor? Technically it may be perfect, but you can’t replicate human intelligence. There are things that are impossible to replicate, what makes us human. The evolution of the brain has not happened overnight. Thinking that we can be above evolution and nature is a mistake. The important thing is that, with technology or without technology, a coach is capable of bringing out the best in people,” defends Ipiña.

AI is one more help for athletes to be taller, stronger, healthier, more human.