Sports and Big Data Analytics: How technology is improving athletes

Ace India's shuttler PV Sindhu was almost within striking distance of a historic BWF World Championships 2017; however, she lost out to Japanese Nozomi Okuhara in the three-game final of the tournament. Big Data Analytics perhaps had a role to play. Athletes all over the world are leveraging technology to estimate competitors and devise strategies to overcome them. Sportspersons, worldwide, have been leveraging a wide array of analytics. And it has been helping them in all departments.
Several new-age digital transformation technologies such as Big Data, Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning, Internet of Things (IoT), Analytics are making a substantial impact on industries and human activities across the world ranging from healthcare to oil and gas to education, even the world of sports. Modern disruptive innovations are being put to widespread and diverse use. 
From what angle to serve to how to cover a badminton court to the array of shots in the arsenal of the rival and most importantly a complete and exhaustive analysis of the strengths and weakness of the opponent is made. Thousands of hours are spent working out this strategy and implementing it, with intensive analysis of historical data and performance predictions. There is a huge corpus of data on sports performance available today.

Coming of age of Big Data and Wearable Technology

Together with advanced analytics tools, coaches and players these days sit together and are much better equipped than ever before to take informed decisions on how and where to allocate the resources for maximum results. This has seen a lot of inputs from modern technologies such as Big Data Analytics. The most exhaustive sports database globally is tapped to track competition results as well as rankings of players at all levels, including elite and junior level. Such sports intelligence provides relevant information on how competitors are faring internationally, with inputs on biomechanics.
More specifically it shows how to approach each and every match and player, with a different set of strategy every time. Such an approach is now becoming evident in all sports. From a sailor being aware of how exactly the current will influence his boat in the Guanabara Bay in Rio to a pugilist being aware of when to attack and punch and when to block.
"Big Data Analytics is boon as it provides the necessary tools, insights and trends by analyzing data and predicting outcomes. Big data is helping in the identification and tracking of talent. By gathering all data about each athlete who undergoes training program, new talent can be compared with profiles of former players, in order to figure out how to make each individual into a champion," says official of a Big Company.

Big Data hits the Big Games

For example, the British rowing team at the Olympics increasingly invested in data analytics to win at the Games. From on-water training to gym sessions, they measure and analyze all relevant data that can have a bearing on actual performance. Technology even analyzed and tracked currents of Guanabara Bay, helping sailors perform better.
Similarly, the Brazilian Canoe Federation leveraged Big Data to help sports persons improve technique. Sensors were installed in canoes and heart monitors on athletes to gather data on performance. The system measured frequency and intensity of rowing and detected location, speed and direction of boat.

Massive increase in scope expected in Big Data Applications

Rio 2016 was the first Olympics to have leveraged Big Data Analytics to a large extent. With explosion in the quantity and quality of sensors and machine-to-machine communication, Tokyo 2020 will be the real test and expansion of this technology. Big Data, which was used for the first time during London 2012, continued to play a big role even in the Rio Olympics and the scope is expected to increase even in Tokyo Olympics. Such was the extent of its application that several experts termed Rio 2016 as the coming-of-age for Big Data.
In fact, Rio proved to the most data-driven Olympics in the history of the world. Every facet depended, to some extent, on data capture. Sensors, heart rate monitors, and GPS trackers were used heavily. Users were able to monitor performance, recall earlier results, and view the Analytics at the click of a button.

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