We’ll use AI to help GB athletes win medals, says UK Sport chair

According to UK Sport chairman Nick Webborn, the Olympic and Paralympic teams will need to use artificial intelligence and collaborate more closely to maintain their dominance at the recent Games.

The executive director of the elite sport funding agency stated to BBC Sport in his first interview since taking the position: “We’ve been a really successful nation, and we’re going to have to do things differently to maintain that position or even go higher.

It’s about how we think smarter now, how we play sports with AI effectively, and how we collaborate as different sports bodies rather than in silos.

“I believe that we are now in a mindset where we are all united and moving together, and that sports’ information sharing is much more prevalent than ever,” she said.

And we’ll need to do that to stay on the medal table.

Webborn now wants the technology to improve performance, and UK Sport announced this year that British athletes would be able to receive new AI-based protection from online abuse.

We already make the most of AI by assisting athletes online, and we know it has a lot more potential,” he said.

“We are looking into how it can be used to complement coaches and improve athlete performance in areas like performance analysis, load management, injury prevention, paralympic classification, and talent identification,” according to the statement.

The total medals won by Team GB at the last summer Olympics in Paris in 2012 were on par with those in London in 2012.

However, their medal table ranking dropped to its lowest position in 20 years with their tally of 14 golds, dropping them from fourth to seventh.

We want to go above and beyond. Webborn resisted saying, “We always have done.”

“And it’s those trivial things that help us turn those silvers into gold,” she says.

The Paralympic team has done a fantastic job, finishing second behind China for the past few games but being challenged by other countries. However, I think the British people’s character and innovation will keep them there forever.

“Olympic and Paralympic sports have never worked together better. That is absolutely evident in the discussions they are having. We are acquiring new knowledge from one another.

Webborn is optimistic despite the fact that UK Sport has not yet released a medal target for the upcoming Winter Games in Milan and Cortina, Italy.

As the most senior athlete in the British Olympic and Paralympics, Webborn also claims that he wants to place a new emphasis on “valuing the athletes who enter our high-performance sports system, and preparing them for their later life, so that the skills they learn from being a high-class athlete actually make them a better person, a happier member of society.”

Because you only compete for a certain number of years, you spend a lot more of your life, I believe we need to concentrate on that.

Following a string of athlete welfare controversy following Rio 2016, UK Sport’s “no-compromise” approach, which relies on funding to medal potential, came under intense scrutiny. The body then declared it would win “the right way” and introduced a number of reforms to improve duty of care under the leadership of Webborn’s predecessor, Dame Katherine Grainger.

When questioned about whether winning medals or medals was more important to him, Webborn replied, “No, they both are.” To win and to win well is key.

“It’s critically important to me how we win, both in clean sport, and how people and behaviors are maintained throughout the entire high-performance system, with the coaches and the support staff,” he said.

There have been safety and behavior issues in the past in sports, and changing that ethos will help improve both athletes and people in the future by making them feel valued and cared for throughout their time playing the sport.

What does understanding what happens to those people after they graduate from college help me understand, because if you’re a parent considering enrolling their child in a high-performance system, you want to know more than just “are they going to win a gold medal,” what kind of person they will be as a result, and what their future will look like afterward. ‘.

I want athletes to leave the system feeling content with their care and effort.

“We do have a challenge from Middle Eastern countries] where] cost is no option, but we do have a challenge from them,” Webborn asks. “But will they provide the value and bring the crowds that we can do in the UK”?

When will be the next time the Olympics and Paralympics are held in the UK, according to “I think what we need to think about].”

We’re probably going to be looking at 2040, but it’s always a goal in your head. That was brilliant in 2012, wasn’t it? I’d like that the British public also has those memories.

When asked if a bid was feasible and if it should be staged in London, Webborn responded, “I don’t think we can talk about aspiration now, we can talk about realism.” It might be hosted by Liverpool and Manchester, or it might have two cities. So, I believe we must be open and creative when conceiving ideas.

When Webborn, 25, sustained a severe spinal injury during a rugby match, saying it “completely transformed my outlook on life.” He then served as a research pioneer into the needs of paralymps after months of rehabilitation, serving as the association’s representative at 13 Paralympics.

“I’ve seen this evolution, the impact lottery funding has had on high-performance sport in the UK, and how that’s changed people’s lives, changed sport, and the amazing success we’ve had as a country,” he said.

We need to rediscover that pride in the country, which I believe has been somewhat lost, because the country is currently experiencing a difficult economic environment. At this moment, there is discussion and disagreement. Sport can bring people together to celebrate timeless, iconic television moments. In a few months, we’ll see in Milan-Cortina and in Los Angeles in 2028.