Sports
AI comes to the Olympics: In Paris, new tech will change your view of the Games
Follow our Olympics coverage from the Paris Games.
The Olympic Games have come a long way since the age of hand-held stopwatches.
It’s fitting then that during a moment when the mass population has finally come to understand the power (and danger) of artificial intelligence through widgets like ChatGPT that the Olympic Games in Paris will rely on AI to help determine not just who wins and loses but the why and how of those triumphs and losses.
Ahead of the Olympics, The Athletic spoke with Alain Zobrist, the chief executive of Omega Timing. Omega is the official timekeeper of the Games, a role it has played numerous times since 1932, and is largely responsible for every digit of data that gets produced during the Olympics.
Zobrist outlined a series of innovations that will allow viewers on NBC and other telecasts to experience the ebbs and flows of the competition as never before, whether it’s in the pool or on the sand under the Eiffel Tower for the beach volleyball competition.
‘A whole biomechanical analysis’
The most striking innovations, at least at the start of the Games when swimming is at the center of attention, might be in the Olympic Aquatic Center.
Omega has set up four cameras that capture everything happening in the water. The cameras and the computerized brains that operate them, referred to as “Computervision,” have been taught to recognize and analyze certain movements. In real-time, the high-tech cameras can calculate each athlete’s stroke rate and the distance they are covering. It can compare that to how much distance they have covered, how much is left, and to the seven other athletes in the race and figure out the small differences in acceleration and deceleration at key moments in the race that can be the difference between a gold medal and fourth place.
“What we get is a whole biomechanical analysis,” Zobrist said.
Safer diving
One of the most famous images in Olympic diving captured Greg Louganis, the American champion, hitting his head on the board during the 1988 Games in Seoul. Louganis emerged basically OK, even though he whacked his head after completing two-and-a-half somersaults.
He got four stitches and went on to win a second gold medal in the springboard. He also captured the platform gold for a second consecutive time.
Still, the injuries could have been far more serious, and the sport has tried to prioritize keeping heads far away from boards. Judges can deduct two points for a head that passes the board at an unsafe distance. In the past, it’s sometimes been something of a judgment call. Not in Paris, where the computerized camera will measure the distance between the head and the board and let the judges know if they should deduct points.
Divers can be penalized if their heads pass too close to the board. In Paris, new technology will take the decision out of the judges’ hands. (Clive Rose / Getty Images)
The ultimate (for now) photo finish
Winning a gold medal can be a life-changing event. Getting that right is about as important as it gets.
On the athletics track, the decision can be complicated, as officials have to determine whose upper torso crossed the line first. In the past, they relied on a camera that shot 10,000 frames per second. There’s a better camera this time that shoots 40,000 frames per second, with more pixels so the quality will be better as well.
Smart bibs
The track and field bib would seem like a pretty outdated piece of equipment. In the most important event of their careers, athletes pin a high-tech piece of paper to their bodies.
Turns out that bib plays a pretty important role in how viewers experience a running race. Inside the bib is a sensor roughly the size of a credit card that is constantly relaying data about the runner that is similar to the data the cameras collect in the swimming pool.
A series of antennas send information to high-speed computers that are constantly calculating all the athletes’ positions on the track, their steps, their stride rate and which direction those are going in. The antennas send about 2,000 data points per second to the timekeeping room.
This is how we know who’s gaining ground and who’s losing it and who’s leading a race with a staggered start, such as the 200 or 400 meters.
The expansive beach volleyball court requires a lot of movement to cover during a match. We’ll have a much better idea of how much in Paris. (Daniel Leal / AFP via Getty Images)
Running on the beach, quick moves on the tennis court
The first thing anyone who tries to play beach volleyball realizes is how insanely large the court is.
It’s 16 meters long and eight meters wide, or more than 52 feet long and more than 25 feet wide. That’s a ridiculous amount of real estate for two people to cover.
We’ll know how ridiculous this year, as the smart cameras capture and tabulate each movement the athletes make, calculating the distance they cover in each match, the speed of the ball and a data-driven understanding of tactics.
On the tennis courts of Roland Garros, electronic line-calling won’t be used. Players will have to rely on old-fashioned line judges and marks on the clay, which may have cost Alexander Zverev the men’s singles title in June. But a new system will focus heavily on the two most important shots in the game — the serve and the return attempt, the only two shots that happen on every tennis point.
The cameras at Roland Garros will measure the returner’s reaction time to the serve and correlate it to the quality of return to provide a sense of whether the quickest reflexes and the ability to read a serve lead to high-quality returns.
Beyond timing
Zobrist said the overall approach is to try to measure competition without disturbing athletes. This way, they don’t run into problems with convincing athletes to accept their methods.
“This is why Computervision and AI are so helpful,” he said, especially with engineers focusing so heavily on biomechanics rather than biometrics. “It’s another way of how to measure time, how to measure time and explain performance.”
GO DEEPER
Beach volleyball at the 2024 Paris Olympics: U.S. teams, schedule and how to watch
(Top photo of the women’s 100-meter during the Tokyo Olympics: Ulrik Pedersen / NurPhoto via Getty Images)
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The highly anticipated 30th WNBA season tipped off Friday with three games, including the expansion Toronto Tempo’s first-ever contest.
The action continued Saturday with a full slate, including Caitlin Clark’s return after an injury-riddled sophomore season.
Clark and the Indiana Fever hosted the Dallas Wings on Saturday afternoon in a matchup featuring the four most recent No. 1 overall picks. The Wings outlasted the Fever 107-104, but the game was defined by Azzi Fudd’s — the most recent top pick — underwhelming debut.
Dallas Wings guards Azzi Fudd and Paige Bueckers react during the first half of the Fever’s season opener at Gainbridge Fieldhouse in Indianapolis on May 9, 2026. (Grace Smith/IndyStar / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images)
Fudd played 18 minutes off the bench, scoring three points — the lowest ever by a No. 1 overall pick in a WNBA debut.
Wings coach Jose Fernandez addressed Fudd’s performance after the game, encouraging the rookie to, “Keep doing what she’s doing, it’s her first year in the league. We got five really talented backcourt players.”
EX-WNBA STAR CRITICAL OF SKY ROOKIE HAILEY VAN LITH, BELIEVES POPULARITY PLAYED ROLE IN DRAFT SELECTION
In addition to Fudd, Dallas’ backcourt features last year’s top draft pick Paige Bueckers, last season’s No. 12 overall pick Aziaha James, four-time All-Star Arike Ogunbowale and starting guard Odyssey Sims.
Until Saturday, Kelsey Plum held the record for the lowest-scoring debut by a No. 1 pick. Selected first overall by the then-San Antonio Stars in 2017, she scored just four points in her debut. The Stars relocated to Las Vegas in 2018 and was subsequently rebranded as the Aces.
Dallas Wings guard Azzi Fudd warms up before the game against the Indiana Fever at Gainbridge Fieldhouse in Indianapolis, Indiana, on May 9, 2026. (Michael Hickey/Getty Images)
Despite the slow start to her first season in the league, Plum ended the year with All-Rookie team honors. In the years since, she’s been named to four All-Star teams and won two championships with the Aces.
The Wings’ decision to take Fudd with the No. 1 overall pick drew controversy, raising questions about whether Bueckers’ personal relationship with her influenced the selection. Late last month, Bueckers said last month it did not.
Azzi Fudd poses with WNBA Commissioner Cathy Engelbert after being selected first overall by the Dallas Wings during the 2026 WNBA Draft at The Shed in New York City on April 13, 2026. (Angelina Katsanis/Getty Images)
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“Azzi Fudd was the No. 1 draft pick because she earned it, and it had nothing to do with me and everything to do with who she is as a human being, who she is as a basketball player,” Bueckers said, according to ESPN.
Neither Bueckers nor Fudd has publicly updated their relationship status since the April draft.
“Quite frankly, I believe me and Azzi’s personal relationship is nobody’s business but our own,” Bueckers also said in April. “And what we choose to share is completely up to us.”
Next up, the Wings play their home opener on Tuesday when they host the Atlanta Dream.
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The Lakers are one playoff defeat from their season being over and from the conversation turning to LeBron James’ future.
They are in a hole no team has climbed out of in the history of the NBA, the Lakers’ 131-108 loss to the Oklahoma City Thunder in Game 3 putting L.A. down 3-0 in the best-of-seven Western Conference semifinal series.
James and his teammates gave a gallant effort Saturday night at Crypto.com Arena, but the defending champion proved to be more than the Lakers could handle.
James finished his night with 19 points on seven-for-19 shooting, eight assists and six rebounds. Rui Hachimura had 21 points and Austin Reaves finished with 17 points and nine assists.
Even so, the Lakers have now lost all three games by double digits.
And the Lakers are fully aware that no NBA team has successfully come back from a 3-0 deficit in the playoffs, with those teams holding a 161-0 record. Only four teams have forced a Game 7 after trailing 3-0, all of which ultimately lost the series, including the Boston Celtics in 2023.
Lakers forward LeBron James shows frustration as Thunder center Chet Holmgren slam dunks during Game 3 on Saturday night.
(Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)
Game 4 is Monday night, when the Lakers will try to stave off elimination and a night that will determine how the conversations go with James if they lose.
James has been frequently asked this season about retirement, but he has not given any indication of what the future holds for him.
He’s 41 years old and playing in an NBA-record 23rd season.
James is in the final year of his contract that pays him $52 million, making him a free agent this offseason. He can retire, join another team or perhaps return to the Lakers next season.
That will be the conversation if the Lakers can’t win Game 4.
They will see the same Thunder team that had seven players score in double figures, led by Ajay Mitchell’s 24 points and 10 assists and Shai Gilgeous-Alexander’s 23 points and nine assists.
The Lakers went down 13 in the third quarter and had to play catchup the rest of the way. They never did, going down by 112-94 with 6 minutes and 12 seconds left, forcing Lakers coach JJ Redick to call a timeout.
The deficit just kept growing, topping out at 27 points in the fourth.
They were outscored 33-20 in the third quarter. The Lakers didn’t take care of the basketball in the third, turning it over six times, and they didn’t play good defense, allowing the Thunder to shoot 59.1% from the field and 55.6 percent from three-point range,
The Lakers did not give an inch to the Thunder in the first half, even when they fell behind by 10 points.
They just kept grinding until they led 59-57 at halftime.
Hachimura had 16 points in the first half, continuing his hot three-point shooting by making all four of his threes. Luke Kennard came off the bench to give the Lakers 13 points, shooting five for six from the field and three for four from three-point range.
The Lakers kept the pressure defense on Gilgeous-Alexander. Though he had 14 points in the first half, he shot only four for 14 from the field and one for five from three-point range.
The Lakers shot 55% from three-point range in the first half, which went a long way in helping them.
The Lakers lost the first two games by identical margins of 18 points and each loss was magnified because Gilgeous-Alexander was kept under wraps for the most part by L.A.’s defense.
When Gilgeous-Alexander picked up his fourth foul with 10:34 left in the third quarter of Game 2 and went to the bench, the Thunder turned a five-point lead into a 13-point advantage at the end of the quarter.
So, when he wasn’t on the court, the Lakers failed to take advantage.
“Well, you know, again, I’ll repeat what I said after the game: we’ve got to be better in the non-Shai minutes,” Lakers coach JJ Redick said.
Role players like Mitchell and Jared McCain hurt the Lakers in the second game. Chet Holmgren also was hard to deal with.
“Mitchell and McCain have hurt us in those non-Shai minutes, and then Chet [Holmgren] has hurt us the whole game,” Redick said. “I think you’ve got to be willing to live with something. Shai playing one-on-one, thus far in the series, we haven’t been willing to live with, so you’re going to be in rotation. That can lead to smalls on bigs at the hole, and the offensive rebounding from Chet has really hurt us.”
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In 2025, Alex Palou kicked off the Month of May with a Sonsio Grand Prix win at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course.
Based on the odds, it’s likely that Palou will find himself in Winner’s Circle again this Saturday when INDYCAR goes back to IMS on May 9 (4:30 p.m. ET, FOX).
Considering Palou has already captured the checkered flag three times this season, are there any other drivers whose odds are worth a wager?
Here are the latest lines at DraftKings Sportsbook as of May 9.
This page may contain affiliate links to legal sports betting partners. If you sign up or place a wager, FOX Sports may be compensated. Read more about Sports Betting on FOX Sports.
Sonsio Grand Prix 2026
Àlex Palou: 5/18 (bet $10 to win $12.78 total)
Kyle Kirkwood: 5/1 (bet $10 to win $60 total)
Pato O’Ward: 12/1 (bet $10 to win $130 total)
David Malukas: 14/1 (bet $10 to win $150 total)
Josef Newgarden: 16/1 (bet $10 to win $170 total)
Scott McLaughlin: 20/1 (bet $10 to win $210 total)
Christian Lundgaard: 30/1 (bet $10 to win $310 total)
Scott Dixon: 40/1 (bet $10 to win $410 total)
Will Power: 60/1 (bet $10 to win $610 total)
Felix Rosenqvist: 80/1 (bet $10 to win $810 total)
Alexander Rossi: 100/1 (bet $10 to win $1,010 total)
Marcus Ericsson: 100/1 (bet $10 to win $1,010 total)
Marcus Armstrong: 100/1 (bet $10 to win $1,010 total)
Christian Rasmussen: 150/1 (bet $10 to win $1,510 total)
Graham Rahal: 150/1 (bet $10 to win $1,510 total)
Louis Foster: 300/1 (bet $10 to win $3,010 total)
Dennis Hauger: 500/1 (bet $10 to win $5,010 total)
Romain Grosjean: 500/1 (bet $10 to win $5,010 total)
Santino Ferrucci: 500/1 (bet $10 to win $5,010 total)
Rinus Veekay: 500/1 (bet $10 to win $5,010 total)
Kyffin Simpson: 500/1 (bet $10 to win $5,010 total)
Caio Collet: 1000/1 (bet $10 to win $10,010 total)
Sting Ray Robb: 1000/1 (bet $10 to win $10,010 total)
Nolan Siegel: 1000/1 (bet $10 to win $10,010 total)
Mick Schumacher: 1000/1 (bet $10 to win $10,010 total)
Here’s what to know about the oddsboard:
Heavy Favorite: It doesn’t look like Alex Palou’s dominance will be slowing down anytime soon. As noted above, he’s already won three of the five races since the INDYCAR season started in March. With 186 laps led, Palou sits first in the standings and has the shortest odds to win the title again. Last season, he started from the pole and led 29 laps before winning the race.
Long Shot to Watch: While his odds of 150/1 to win at IMS are much longer than Palou’s, Graham Rahal is one to watch. At this race in 2025, he started second and led 49 laps before finishing sixth. He finished second at this course in 2015, 2020 and 2023. He’s currently 10th in the INDYCAR standings, with one top five and three top 10s.
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