Mathematics, physics and technology have revolutionized swimming. The idea is that biomechanical and hydrodynamic minutiae are variables in a complex physical and mathematical problem. By optimizing these variables, swimmers can reach near perfection. Today the advent of sensor technology has turned this idea into a reality in which mathematics and physics produce useful information so that coaches can precision-train 2024 Olympic hopefuls. The results have been enormously successful. This Summer Olympics will be the first time that nine of the elite swimmers will be guided by their digital twin. Since 2015 teams of researchers at Emory University and the University of Virginia, have been equipping swimmers with devices called inertial measurement units to record their body’s acceleration, orientation and force. Unlike typical digital video, which records 24 frames per second, these sensors capture information 512 times a second.
While the swimmers go through a battery of tests wearing these sensors on their wrists, ankles or back, the data show the impact on their acceleration from every rotation, splash, pull and kick. Advanced sensors that measure force generated by an athlete’s hands are used to measure the pressure differential between the palm and the side of the hand, revealing the direction of the force. What was previously evaluated purely by looking at the swimmer above the water can now be distilled into a series of charts and graphs that show the distribution of force in all the forward, sideways, and upward and downward directions. Force applied in any direction other than forward is wasted force. These streams of numbers are used to create an athlete’s digital twin, which captures their movements down to the millisecond. A database of digital twins from more than 100 of the best U.S. swimmers has been created.
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