How Tech Won the Winter Olympics
The 2026 Winter Olympic Games featured some of the world’s best athletes, and they also marked a technological milestone. In recent years, technology has become integral to the Olympics. At the 2024 Olympics in Paris, AI was already being integrated into athlete performance, broadcasting, and security. Building on this progress, this year’s events stand out for the widespread use of technology throughout each event and beyond. Behind every camera angle, photo finish, replay, and real-time stat is powerful tech. From AI to drones, technology helped with everything from timing to translation.
How Every Fraction of a Second Was Captured
Timing is crucial in most Olympic sports. OMEGA, the official timekeeper, used its advanced timing and measurement tools across all 116 events in 16 sports. This included electronic starting pistols and a special starting gate system for alpine skiing and snowboarding to ensure fairness. Additionally, photofinish cameras can capture up to 40,000 images per second. OMEGA also developed a computer vision system that tracks performance data during events, providing real-time information such as bobsleigh speeds, ski jump heights, and figure skaters’ blade angles. In bobsled, finish-line cameras gave viewers virtual images showing the sleds’ times and position differences.
A Front-Row Seat From Every Angle
Watching the Olympics has become an immersive experience thanks to advanced camera technology and drones. First-person-view drones transmit images from their onboard cameras in real time, providing viewers with dynamic perspectives of the action in outdoor sports. The audience tuning in could see some views that only the competitors could see. This year’s Games are the first to have 360-degree real-time replay. An Alibaba Cloud system enabled multi-angle views, freeze frames, and slow-motion images.
AI Gets in Game
In curling, a new AI-driven real-time tracking system was introduced. Overhead rail cameras, combined with ice-level views, show detailed trajectory graphics and provide exact data on path, speed, and rotation. These views help the audience tuning in to better understand gameplay and strategy. Google Cloud built an AI video analysis platform to help U.S. ski and snowboard athletes improve their tricks. Even with all their bulky winter gear on, the platform can track athletes’ movements from a 2D video. It provides athletes and coaches with data and insights on how their performance evolves.
Breaking Down Language Barriers
Beyond on-field performance, technology also helped people connect. With people from around the world attending and participating in the games, the language barrier can pose challenges. AI technology was used to help bridge the language gaps. Volunteers were given Samsung phones with on-device AI translation to facilitate communication. The devices even worked in the mountain areas with limited cell service.
Bringing the Action to Your Screen
Additionally, these technologies brought all the action to viewers' fingertips. Olympic watchers worldwide can access thousands of hours of on-demand coverage, enabled by a cloud-based master control room. Some viewing platforms offered a multiview option that let viewers watch multiple sports simultaneously.
Beyond the Games
The integration of technology has changed not only how athletes train and perform, how Olympic sports are judged, and how we watch them, but also has a broader impact beyond sports. The new cameras, AI, and other emerging technologies created for these Olympic sports are also being applied to other areas, such as healthcare to improve surgeries and in manufacturing to boost safety and efficiency. The real victory of these Olympics is more than just the gold medals. The innovations the games gave us will continue to shape important technological tools that will impact our lives for years to come.
We need more tech innovators to create the next generation of technologies that will help athletes push limits, support the Olympic Games, and do much more. Explore Girls Who Code’s programs to get started.
