The British Olympic and Paralympic teams will need to harness artificial intelligence and work more closely together to continue their success at the recent Games, says UK Sport chairman Nick Webborn.
In his first interview since taking up the role, the head of the elite sport funding agency told BBC Sport: “We have been a very successful country and to maintain that position or even go further, we will have to do things differently.
“It’s about how we think smarter now, how we use things like AI in the right way in sports, how we work together as different sports organizations, instead of in silos.
“I think we’re in a state of mind now where we’re united and moving together, that information sharing between sports is happening a lot more than ever before.
“And we will have to do that to maintain our position on the medal table.”
Webborn also revealed that he is hopeful that Britain will once again host the Olympic and Paralympic Games in “2040”.
This year, UK Sport announced that British athletes would get a new form of AI-based protection against online abuse, and Webborn now wants the technology to help with performance.
“We’re already making good use of AI by helping protect athletes online, and we know it can do much more,” he said.
“We are working with the sport to explore how it can be used to compliment coaches and improve athlete performance in areas such as performance analysis, load management, injury prevention, Paralympic classification and talent identification.”
Team GB’s 65 medals at last summer’s Paris 2024 Summer Olympics matched those won at London 2012.
However, their total of 14 golds saw them drop from fourth to seventh on the medal table, their lowest position in twenty years.
“We want to continue to punch above our weight. We always have,” Webborn insisted.
“And it’s those little things, how we convert that silver into gold, that just pushes you a little bit higher on the medal table.
“The Paralympic team have been brilliant, they have been second in the medal table behind China for the last few Games, but other countries are pushing them. But I believe the character and innovation we have in Britain will continue to keep us there.
“The collaboration between the Olympic and Paralympic sports has never been better. This is certainly reflected in the discussions they have. We learn from each other.”
UK Sport has not yet announced a medal target for the upcoming Winter Games in Milan and Cortina in Italy, but Webborn is optimistic.
“The current group of athletes are having great success in this early season, it’s great to see. That doesn’t always translate into medals at the Games, but we’re in a really good place,” he said.
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