The 2024 Summer Olympics comes with an array of inspired inventions, from performance-enhancing footwear to AI-powered judges

WORDS AILSA HARVEY

DID YOU KNOW? Paris has been an Olympic Games host three times – in 1900, 1924 and 2024

The Summer Olympic Games comes around once every four years, and it’s the ultimate stage for most athletes to display their sporting skills. While Olympians focus on their relentless training regimes ahead of their performances, the host country plans meticulously to present its city to the world. To show off their economic strength, innovation and dedication to environmental issues, Olympic hosts put on a display of the cutting-edge technology surrounding the competitions too.

The organisers of the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris have claimed that the upcoming event will be the most immersive series of the competition to date, including high-resolution 8K streaming and the use of artificial intelligence (AI) across the judging, security and entertainment sectors. One of the most significant targets set for these games is to halve the carbon footprint produced by previous Olympics. The Tokyo 2020, Rio 2016 and London 2012 games emitted an average of 3.5 million tonnes of carbon dioxide, so Paris 2024 will need to reduce this to 1.75 million tonnes to reach its target. To help achieve this, 95 per cent of the Olympic infrastructure already existed or will be used after the games. The stadium venues and any buildings that are specially made will continue to be used for other purposes after the closing ceremony.

The ethos of eco-friendly advanced technology runs through every part of these games, including the Olympic Villages where athletes reside, the torches that encase the Olympic flame – symbolising spirit, knowledge and life – and the medals that serve as physical recognition of an athlete’s achievements. Likewise, the boundaries set by competitors in each Olympics series are pushed higher with every event. In Paris 2024, more world records are predicted to be broken as the limits of human abilities are tested once more. Increasingly aerodynamic racing equipment, inventive running shoe materials and precise, performance-analysing technology mean that each Olympic Games is faster, fairer and ever-evolving.

The Paris Olympics start on 26 July

© Getty / Nike / Toyota / Shutterstock / Alamy

AI TALENT SPOTTER

Watching Olympic events often inspires the next generation of athletes, and it may leave attendees wondering if they have what it takes. To give some insight into their athletic ability, a new piece of software by technology company Intel is available to use at sporting venues during the games. Using AI and computer vision – technology that enables machines to identify objects in images from camera footage – a profile of each person who interacts with the machine is scanned. The user is then immersed in the process of becoming an Olympic athlete, connecting them with the journey of the athletes they are watching. Fans can engage in physical exercises and movements, and while they carry out simple athletic drills given by on-screen instructions, the computer will track the body’s posture, movement and speed. At the end of these activities, artificial intelligence will provide results on the sport best suited to the individual.