AI Bringing New Insights to the 2020 Summer Olympic Games in Tokyo

You may not be noticing it much on your television, smartphone or tablet screens, but the TV coverage of the Tokyo 2020 Olympics (which of course are being held in 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic) are infused with big data and AI to an extent never before experienced in the history of the Olympic games. It's been 53 years since the Olympics officially adopted electronic time-keeping equipment to track racers in Olympic events. Omega's Magic Eye camera, which debuted in 1948, gave us the first of many "photo finishes" for track events, and was soon adopted in other events as well. Now the technology is cranking up a notch in the Tokyo 2020 Olympics (which perhaps should have been called the 2021 games), and Omega is again behind much of it. For example, Omega, which is the official timekeeper for 35 Olympic sports, is using cameras equipped with computer vision capabilities to track the movement of beach volleyball players, as well as the ball in play.