4K secret weapon revealed

Swimmers go hi-tech

Swimming Australia has developed a secret weapon to propel the Dolphins to unprecedented success at this year’s Paris Olympics.

In a sport where medals are decided by fractions of seconds, SA has gained an edge over the main rivals in the pool with a cutting-edge gadget.

Using a hi-tech 4K camera fitted with a custom-built software program, SA’s analytics experts can monitor real-time data and identify areas of improvement.

The program is called “Swim Performance and Race Tactical Analysis” and is known in the sport’s high-performance circles as Sparta-2.

It is the envy of the swim world because other countries know about it but haven’t been able to replicate it.

“There’s nothing commercially available on the market so it’s kind of a little bit like an arms race as to who has the best developed software,” SA general manager of performance support Jess Corones said.

“It’s always quite funny up there in the back of the grandstands. Those first couple of days, everyone’s looking at what other countries have got and trying to sneak behind and see how they’re doing that.

“Those countries know we’re using 4k computer vision, so that’s not a world class secret, but it’s the algorithms and what happens in the background that is probably the secret to it.”

The team have been using 4K cameras for years to track athlete performances, but what separates Sparta-2 from previous models is that it provides real-time and historical data on every athlete within 15 minutes of a race.

This means SA’s experts can immediately see where they might be gaining and losing time against their rivals and make the necessary adjustments.

For Olympic swimmers, whose events often include separate rounds of heats, semis and finals, that can mean the difference between gold, silver and bronze.

“By analysing all the swimmers, it gives our coaches a deep understanding of the events that they’re preparing our individual athletes for, so they develop bespoke race plans for them,” Corones said.

“From a psychological perspective, the sooner we can have clarity on what they need to do that night, the sooner they can start to prepare for that.

“One of the things that we’re really great at in Australia – and this is credit to our coaches – is their ability to understand the data and how to apply it.

“The swimmers have to execute it all, but you’ve really got to try to stay ahead of the game and use all the technology that’s available, otherwise you’ll fall behind.”