How Chinese artificial intelligence put a new spin on Winter Olympics action

As American figure skater Ilia Malinin launched into a quad – a jump with four airborne revolutions – at this month’s Winter Olympics, millions of television viewers witnessed something brand new: a replay of the jump separated into frames that appeared to orbit the athlete.

It was just one of many new perspectives offered to viewers thanks to the adoption of artificial intelligence (AI) at the Milano Cortina Winter Olympics, where the technology is not only enhancing broadcasts but also helping to dissect athletic performance in real time.

Backed by Chinese AI firms eager to showcase their capabilities to a global audience, it also reflects a broader push for overseas expansion amid increasingly fierce competition in China.

The real-time 360-degree replay tools, combined with stroboscopic motion analysis, are supported by Chinese tech giant Alibaba’s cloud AI systems, which have featured at multiple recent Games.

Alibaba, a worldwide Olympic partner, is the owner of the South China Morning Post.

Besides helping viewers gain a better understanding of an athlete’s performance, AI-enabled camera technology has also allowed broadcasters to focus on specific competitors, delivering tailored live coverage alongside split-screen views and up-to-the-second data in sports like biathlon – which combines cross-country skiing and rifle shooting – according to the International Olympic Committee.

“For us, it’s not sufficient to produce very high-quality coverage just for dedicated sports fans,” said Olympic Broadcasting Services CEO Yiannis Exarchos at a news conference on February 11. “We have a very short period of time to make the sports understandable and attractive. We need to get people engaged.”

South China Morning Post