HEART-RATE MONITORS

At Tokyo 2020, special cameras in the Yumenoshima Park arena allowed for biometric data to be measured remotely, without requiring the athletes to wear any monitoring devices. A pair of high-frame-rate cameras focused on detecting tiny changes in the shape and colour of an athlete’s face to determine how fast their heart was beating, with this data relayed to the TV production team.

The data appeared on screen in the live television feed but not in the arena, in case it distracted the athletes. The athletes also had to give permission to share the heart rate data; in the end, 60 of the 64 men and 62 of the 64 women agreed to this.

The London 2012 Olympic Champion, veteran Korean archer Oh Jin Hyek, had one of the lowest heart rates of any archer to enter the arena in his first match in Tokyo, averaging in the mid-80s. But during his shoot-off arrow against India’s Atanu Das in the second round, which would ultimately eliminate Oh from the competition, it peaked at 143 beats per minute. The low heart rate of Kim Woojin in competition in Tokyo apparently led to a new nickname of ‘Sleepy’ in the Korean media.

Most athletes praised the new innovation, although some a little more drily than others. “To be honest, it’s good that they know I’m still having a heartbeat, that I’m still alive,” said Steve Wijler of the Netherlands.