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.

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.”

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(Top photo of the women’s 100-meter during the Tokyo Olympics: Ulrik Pedersen / NurPhoto via Getty Images)

Clayton Kershaw was crumbling again.

It was real. It was happening. It was October in July. It was deja boo.

It was the third inning of Kershaw’s long-awaited season debut against the San Francisco Giants on a sweltering Thursday afternoon at Dodger Stadium, and the future Hall of Famer was melting.

Having pitched two scoreless innings, he suddenly lost his touch and was in danger of blowing his moment.

He gave up a line-drive single to left by Jorge Soler, a ricocheting triple into the left-field corner by Tyler Fitzgerald, a hard single up the middle by Heliot Ramos, then another single to center by Matt Chapman.

Four smashed pitches. Two runs scored. Two runners on base. No outs. Oh no.

The last time Kershaw stood on this mound, he gave up six runs in the first inning against the Arizona Diamondbacks in an October playoff-opening loss that led to offseason shoulder surgery.

Nine months later, at age 36, he was improbably attempting a comeback that suddenly appeared stunted just three innings after it began.

The crowd grew silent. The warm wind ceased. The pitcher breathed deeply.

Then, as quickly as he lost it, Kershaw found it.

His strength. His speed. His season?

Then — in a three-batter sequence that screamed, “Remember me?” — Kershaw struck out Patrick Bailey swinging at a slider, struck out David Villar staring at a curveball and struck out Thairo Estrada swinging at another slider.

Three straight Ks, wow upon wow upon wow, Kershaw clenched his fist, the crowd emptied its lungs, the inning ended, and now the questions begin.

What exactly do the Dodgers have here?

Could their former ace actually fortify their battered rotation? Can he really pitch well enough during the next two months to play a role in October? He’ll surely never be a Game 1 starter again, but could he work his way into being a fourth piece who could contribute in a long series?

No matter where he fits, the Dodgers are delighted with the idea that they might have to actually make room.

“If this is the floor, then we’re in for a fun ride with Clayton this year,” thrilled manager Dave Roberts said.

In the Dodgers’ eventual 6-4 win, Kershaw waxed that floor to a shine, giving up two runs on six hits in four innings while looking both surprisingly marvelous and occasionally meh.

His fastball velocity averaged 90.6 mph, nothing special, but not terrible, and not slowly dipping. His slider and curveball were mostly working. He struck out six and walked two amid 72 pitches that mostly pleased him.

“It was fun,” he said afterward. “Definitely some things you can get better at, but overall it was a good day, and I can build off it.”

More than a day for stats, it was a day of the heart, Kershaw overwhelmed with a deep sense of appreciation for what he almost lost.

“It means a lot … to be able to get back out there at Dodger Stadium is something I thought about for a long time,” he said. “There’s a lot of people in here who spent a lot of time with me to help me get back … this was really cool.”

A crowd that braved 90-degree afternoon heat welcomed him with a standing ovation. He bowed his head while standing on the mound to the strains of, “We Are Young.” Dressed in cleats decorated by his children, he began pitching as if he never left, but this was different, this was special.

There were roars with every strike, louder roars with every out, and throughout the game enough noise to create a sense of reconnection.

“To go back out and pitch here … not that I ever did before, but I’m not going to take that for granted again,” Kershaw said.

The fact that he even took the mound was stunning. After watching him last October, didn’t you think he was done? This columnist sure did.

He’s won every imaginable award, he has a World Series ring, he’s headed to Cooperstown, why put himself through an arduous rehab simply to keep doing something he’s already done better than most human beings in history?

A crowd that braved 90-degree afternoon heat welcomed Clayton Kershaw with a standing ovation at Thursday’s game.

(Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times)

Turns out, it was for moments like that third inning. He craves the competition. He relishes the hurdles.

“At the end of the day, you just got to perform, it doesn’t matter all the rehab, all the surgery, it doesn’t matter, you’ve got to perform,” he said. “Looking forward to my next start, thinking about that.”

In becoming the first pitcher in Dodgers history to play 17 seasons with the team — 17! — Kershaw indeed further ensured his greatness simply with his presence.

“Having a great season, a great first half, to be an All-Star, having a great couple seasons is one thing,” Roberts said. “But the longevity piece is something that I really admire, the consistency part, the ability to post, and so for him to set another record just speaks to the character, the competitor in Clayton Kershaw. And in all these years, he’s still been dominant, even without his best stuff. So to put him on the Mount Rushmore of Dodger players.”

Thankfully, Roberts is adamant that the Dodgers’ plans for the July 30 trade deadline will not be affected by Kershaw’s performance. They still need a frontline starting pitcher, and they seemingly already know better than to count on Kershaw so soon in his comeback.

“I don’t think this will have any impact on next week,” Roberts said. “I think that given where the starters are at, who we have and guys that are kind of not available, IL, I don’t think Clayton’s outing today has any impact on that.”

However, they definitely saved a spot for Kershaw if he’s ready.

“I expect Clayton to be a big part of October. Yes,” Roberts said.

How big? Stay tuned. The strange but necessary audition of a future Hall of Famer has begun.

PARIS – Joel Embiid recently suggested Team USA’s stars were old, and their advanced ages may cause outsiders to overrate their collective might.

Two of the players Embiid was talking about agree with him, to a point.

“Of course, we’re older and we all have mileage on our bodies,” said Kevin Durant, 35, who is Team USA’s all-time leading scorer but has yet to play this summer due to a calf injury. “We figure out ways to be effective, just as Jo has as he’s gone through injuries.”

Embiid, 30, has battled a host of injuries throughout his career, and chose playing for the U.S. over France — where he also gained citizenship — at the Olympics.

Durant acknowledged that he was aware of Embiid’s comments. Steph Curry, who sat next to Durant at an Olympic press conference in Paris on Thursday, suggested ignorance and asked for the context.

“What I’m saying is there’s too many podcasts out there,” said Curry, who is 36.

Embiid’s comments, told to New York Times Magazine in a 32-minute episode of “The Interview” before the start of Team USA’s training camp but published July 20, caused a stir outside of the American national team.

Team USA, winners of four consecutive golds and a prohibitive favorite for a fifth, is made up of 11 current NBA All-Stars who are considered future hall of famers. But Embiid’s point was that the team had been given too much credit before any games were played, and a reason why was that time had taken its toll on the elder stars.

“You look at the talent that the U.S. has, but there’s equal talent on other teams,” Embiid said. “And the talent that’s on the U.S. team, you also got to understand most of those guys are older. The LeBron now is not the LeBron that was a couple of years ago. So it’s a big difference. Everybody would also tell you, and you can see for yourself, the athletic LeBron, dominant that he was a couple of years ago, is not the same that he is now. I think people get fooled by the names on paper. But those names have been built throughout their career, and now they’re older. They’re not what they used to be.”

Embiid used James, 39, as the example, but the American team has seven players who are 30 or older. Derrick White is 30, Anthony Davis is 31 and Jrue Holiday is 34. Kawhi Leonard, 33, was on the team originally but sent home by USA executives because it was deemed his chronic knee swelling would not allow him to play at a high enough level during the Olympics. He was replaced by White.

The irony of Embiid singling out James, and the timing of publication, is that James has been Team USA’s top player through the exhibition season. He is leading the team in scoring and assists, and twice rescued the Americans from late deficits with 25 points against South Sudan (on July 20, the date Embiid’s interview was published, and 11 of his 20 points late in the fourth quarter Monday against Germany.

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James averages 14.6 points and 3.8 assists for Team USA. Neither James nor Embiid have addressed the comments publicly and Durant said they were not a topic of conversation inside the team.

“The thing about greatness is that you adjust and continue to find ways to be effective,” Durant added Thursday when asked about James. “That’s what LeBron has done. He’s not running and jumping the same way he was when he was 25, 26 years old, but he’s still jumping pretty high and running pretty fast.”

Curry said the team still relies on their younger members too.

“It’s a five-man team (on the court at one time), so you’ve got to put it all together,” he said.

Currently, Devin Booker starts for the U.S. alongside James, Curry, Embiid and Holiday. Booker is 27 but is already an Olympic gold medalist. Holiday won gold with Booker at the Tokyo games. The team’s second-leading scorer, Anthony Edwards, is 22 and plays on the second unit with Davis, Bam Adebayo (27), Jayson Tatum (26), and White. Tatum and Adebayo also won gold in 2021.

“I don’t really don’t think it’s a big deal,” USA coach Steve Kerr said later on Thursday, when he was asked about Embiid’s comments. “I think it’s a fact that LeBron’s 39, Steph is 36. It doesn’t change the fact that LeBron’s still a hell of a player. He took over the last two games.

“We really like the balance on this team of age and experience, and none of that stuff matters other than coming together as a team and bringing the collective competitive force to a higher level,” Kerr continued. “And we’re definitely capable of doing that.”

Team USA’s first game at the Olympics is against Serbia at 5:15pm local (11.15am ET) on Sunday, in Lille, France. Friday is an off day for the American team as it prepares for the audacious Opening Ceremony in Paris, in which athletes are to float on barges down the River Seine.

James will become the first U.S. men’s player ever to serve as flag bearer.

Required reading

(Top photo: Arturo Holmes/Getty Images)