Digital doping: Are big data, AI and virtual reality creating an uneven playing field?

Watching elite athletes run, leap and score, it's hard to imagine there's much room for improvement, but the Internet of Things, Big Data and virtual reality are shaving milliseconds from sprinters, extending the jumps of Olympians – and helping your favourite striker put the ball in the net. That's before bionics change sports forever, with predictions that the sprinters at the next summer Olympics could be outperformed by an athlete at the Paralympics. It all starts with data collection, which shouldn't be a shock. The film Moneyball was based on the true story of Oakland Athletics' team manager outwitting rivals with data science – and that was in 2002. Fast forward to 2018 and the combination of always-on sensors and connectivity takes the idea several leaps forward.