At the Olympic and Paralympic Games, differences that are often minimal separate medallists from other competitors. To stand out from other competitors, our athletes need to focus not only on their talent and efforts, but also on scientific and technological advances.
Supporting nearly 3,000 high-level and next-generation athletes who are preparing for the Olympic and Paralympic Games, Institut national du sport du Québec has an ambitious three-pronged scientific and technological program: specialized support, research, and innovation.
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The Institut’s sports medicine and scientific staff and network of regional multi-sport centres offer a range of highly specialized services on a daily basis: performance determinants assessment tests, training load feedback, recovery techniques, strategies to reduce the negative impact of environmental factors (heat, jet lag, altitude, etc.), injury prevention and reathletization strategies, customized physical preparation and nutrition, etc.
Research (physiology, biomechanics, nutrition, psychology, neuroscience, medicine, etc.) and innovation work (engineering, computer programming, etc.) are conducted in the Institut’s laboratories and sports platforms at the Montreal Olympic Park, or with academic or industrial partners. The focus is on cutting-edge areas such as data science, artificial intelligence, virtual reality and augmented reality. Robotics will be added in the medium term.
The Institut’s many current research and innovation activities include:
- programming a phone application to help athletes and coaches reduce the negative impact of overseas travel;
- development of artificial intelligence to assess the technique of high-performance divers using simple video recordings; and
- machine-learning assessment of training to further improve performance
while reducing the risk of injury.
In short, at Institut national du sport du Québec, research and innovation with a focus on cutting-edge fields boosts support for elite athletes.
