{"id":483875,"date":"2024-07-29T08:00:00","date_gmt":"2024-07-29T06:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/innovationorigins.com\/?p=483875"},"modified":"2024-07-29T08:00:00","modified_gmt":"2024-07-29T06:00:00","slug":"how-university-research-can-boost-olympic-athletes-performance","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ioplus.nl\/archive\/en\/how-university-research-can-boost-olympic-athletes-performance\/","title":{"rendered":"How university research can boost Olympic athletes’ performance"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

An obsession mentality pools the top athletes of our times. One example is Cristiano Ronaldo\u2019s meticulous care for his body. He was one of the first athletes to use cryotherapy \u2013 and even to buy its own therapy chamber \u2013 to speed up recovery. Mamba Mentality was the trademark of Kobe Bryant; his own version of obsession emphasized by 3 am training sessions and a total dedication to improving every day. These very same athletes are well aware of how the devil is in the details and resort to every possible resource to come up in clutch times. Science can help them understand how to improve, and innovation can give them the extra boost they need. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

For a decade now, Dutch Olympic athletes have also been counting on the help of the Delft University of Technology (TU Delft) Sports Engineering Institute<\/a>. Research done at the institute has helped many athletes excel. In the buildup to the upcoming summer Olympics, the institute hosted a day to celebrate and look back at its work. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Since day one, the institute worked on exploring how technology can improve sports performances, covering a wide range of disciplines. Research projects about cycling, running, and darts have been conducted, as well as studies focusing on paralympic athletes. Since its inception, Dutch athletes have found a partner in Delft researchers.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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There’s something about sport. And so here is a magazine full of technology and sport for you. For \u2018IO Next: The Future of Sport Tech\u2019<\/a> our team delved into innovations for professionals and amateur athletes.<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>

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An Olympic medal-winning suit<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

One prime example of such collaboration is Kimberley Bos<\/a>, the first athlete representing the Netherlands at the Olympic Winter Games in Pyeongchang 2018 in the skeleton event. In 2022, she became the European champion and won the bronze medal at the Beijing Winter Olympics. TU Delft also helped achieve these successes, designing an aerodynamic and tailor-made suit for Bos. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThrough the National Olympic Committee, we were linked to the TU Delft, and that\u2019s how I met Wouter (Wouter Terra, TeamNL expert aerodynamics at TU Delft and the Dutch umbrella organization for sports  NOC*NSF, ed.). My coach takes care of the technical aspects for me. His Ph.D. was in ice friction, yet he doesn\u2019t know much about aerodynamics,\u201d Bos told IO. Both the athlete and her team had many questions about enhancing their aerodynamics knowledge and consequently improving performance. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

As a result, the group decided to work on a dedicated suit, which paid off. \u201cThe biggest difference was that there was no doubt this was the best suit for me. It was comfortable, and I also knew it was the best aerodynamically. That takes away the concern about anything else, and you can focus on the one thing you\u2019re good at, in my case, sliding,\u201d recalled the athlete. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Scanning bodies <\/h2>\n\n\n\n

One of the labs where Bos\u2019 winning suit was crafted is the university’s 4D scanning lab. There, machinery allows for taking a complete scan of bodies and tracking movement. Gathering this information allows for a real personalization of a specific piece of equipment, as well as to study movement. From the scans, 3D models of the bodies can be made so as to study a specific body composition and design suits or helmets in the most accurate way possible. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The scanning machines. \u00a9 IO<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The Olympics track bike <\/h2>\n\n\n\n

In the last Tokyo Summer Olympics, the Dutch track bike team won six medals: the best result ever. Delft researchers’ work is part of the reason to explain this achievement. Back then, they worked alongside bike manufacturer KOGA to create a tailor-made bike<\/a> for each cyclist, adjusting features to every cyclist\u2019s length and posture. Before the competition, the bike was expected to yield a half-second advantage during the sprint event.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And the KOGA Kinsei delivered. The men\u2019s team won in both single and team sprint disciplines, with Harrie Lavreysen bagging the gold in both competitions. The women\u2019s team also won two medals, with Shanne Braspennincx triumphing in the Keirin discipline. <\/p>\n\n\n

<\/a>
<\/div><\/div>
Ref Bikes extends life of bikes through interchangeable frame<\/div>
French start-up Ref Bikes has developed an easily interchangeable frame to extend the life of bicycles. This makes it possible to adapt the bicycle to the changing needs of the cyclist. The first 150 units will leave the workshop in March. <\/div><\/div><\/div>\n\n\n

Science to bring a competitive advantage <\/h2>\n\n\n\n

As more tools to improve performance are available, athletes and their coaches focus on training smarter rather than harder. The wider availability of data opened up more possibilities to this extent, as trained data analysts are now also part of all sports coaching teams. In any case, the interplay between cutting-edge tech and sports is as crucial as ever, and the contribution scientists can make to sportspeople is instrumental. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cYou have to go for a competitive advantage. An athlete nowadays has to be careful about what one does regarding food or technology because that\u2019s what will eventually make a difference between a gold or a silver medal. To achieve top results, sportspeople need science and innovations,\u201d underlined Marc van den Tweel, director general of the sports institute, on stage. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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A moment of the ceremony – \u00a9 IO<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Impacting society at large<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Research is primarily done with and for athletes, yet TU Delft’s motto remains the same: impact for a better society. Sports innovation makes no exception, and it positively impacts society as a whole. Recently, the Sports Engineering Institute and bike manufacturer Gazelle unveiled an assisted bike steering system<\/a> which was for visitors to try. Hopping on the bike, one can feel the difference, with the bike immediately turning in the desired direction as soon as the handle is moved. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The system is designed to prevent low-speed falls, which are the most frequent ones, and to provide riders\u2014especially people of old age\u2014extra help and comfort.  According to the Dutch Road Safety Institute (SWOV), most major bike accidents are the result of losing control of the bike. Yearly, around 120 cyclists aged 55 or older die in bike accidents, with thousands more involved in serious accidents. As more and more bikes on the streets are electric \u2013 thus heavier and faster \u2013  the project wanted to provide cyclists extra safety. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

To this extent, Van Den Tweel underscored the Sports Engineering Institute’s willingness to broaden its scope. Pushing people to exercise more \u2013 Dutch adults are the ones sitting the longest hours<\/a> per day in Europe \u2013 to reduce obesity levels and prevent cardiovascular diseases are tenets of this mission. Winning medals comes right after.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n

<\/a>
<\/div><\/div>
There’s something special about sport<\/div>
If there is one thing that I miss from the Frisian village where I grew up, it is that in Amsterdam, nobody knows their neighbor. … Continued<\/a><\/div><\/div><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

An obsession mentality pools the top athletes of our times. One example is Cristiano Ronaldo\u2019s meticulous care for his body. He was one of the first athletes to use cryotherapy \u2013 and even to buy its own therapy chamber \u2013 to speed up recovery. Mamba Mentality was the trademark of Kobe Bryant; his own version […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2084,"featured_media":506837,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"advgb_blocks_editor_width":"","advgb_blocks_columns_visual_guide":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[83907],"tags":[555,85269,85557,25333],"location":[6763],"article_type":[43139],"serie":[],"archives":[],"internal_archives":[],"reboot-archive":[],"class_list":["post-483875","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-bio-en","tag-sport","tag-sport-tech","tag-sports-engineering","tag-tu-delft-en","location-netherlands","article_type-features"],"blocksy_meta":[],"acf":{"subtitle":"For a decade now, the Delft University of Technology's Sports Engineering Institute has been helping athletes improve their performances with cutting-edge tech. ","text_display_homepage":false},"author_meta":{"display_name":"Mauro Mereu","author_link":"https:\/\/ioplus.nl\/archive\/author\/mauro-mereu\/"},"featured_img":"https:\/\/ioplus.nl\/archive\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/mariekaaas_researchers_studying_an_athlete._In_the_style_of_sat_8d0a960c-7684-4812-8ce4-ff4ae830aa03.png","coauthors":[],"tax_additional":{"categories":{"linked":["BIO+<\/a>"],"unlinked":["BIO+<\/span>"]},"tags":{"linked":["sport<\/a>","Sport Tech<\/a>","sports engineering<\/a>","TU Delft<\/a>"],"unlinked":["sport<\/span>","Sport Tech<\/span>","sports engineering<\/span>","TU Delft<\/span>"]}},"comment_count":"0","relative_dates":{"created":"Posted 2 years ago","modified":"Updated 2 years ago"},"absolute_dates":{"created":"Posted on July 29, 2024","modified":"Updated on July 29, 2024"},"absolute_dates_time":{"created":"Posted on July 29, 2024 8:00 am","modified":"Updated on July 29, 2024 8:00 am"},"featured_img_caption":"","series_order":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ioplus.nl\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/483875","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ioplus.nl\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ioplus.nl\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ioplus.nl\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2084"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ioplus.nl\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=483875"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/ioplus.nl\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/483875\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ioplus.nl\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/506837"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ioplus.nl\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=483875"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ioplus.nl\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=483875"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ioplus.nl\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=483875"},{"taxonomy":"location","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ioplus.nl\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/location?post=483875"},{"taxonomy":"article_type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ioplus.nl\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/article_type?post=483875"},{"taxonomy":"serie","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ioplus.nl\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/serie?post=483875"},{"taxonomy":"archives","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ioplus.nl\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/archives?post=483875"},{"taxonomy":"internal_archives","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ioplus.nl\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/internal_archives?post=483875"},{"taxonomy":"reboot-archive","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ioplus.nl\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/reboot-archive?post=483875"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}