This week and next 老九品茶Cloud is placing the spotlight on how tech is revolutionising sport.
With the help of sports scientists, teams and individuals are harnessing technology to improve performance and transform the way they make decisions.
The British Olympic cycling team has partnered with Cervelo to develop the best bike yet for the upcoming Games in Brazil.
However Tony Purnell, head of technical development at British Cycling, says: 鈥淭he biggest gain for Rio is definitely in the approach to training the athletes rather than the equipment.鈥�
Purnell admits he was surprised by the nature of his role when he began in 2013 following a career that has included serving as team principal of the Jaguar F1 team.
鈥淲hen I took the job I thought it would be all about making faster bikes, but I soon realised it was all about studying the way the athletes are trained and then thinking about how we can assist the coaching staff in making their decisions and helping the riders get more out of themselves,鈥� he says.
鈥淲hen I worked in F1 it was 95 per cent car and five per cent driver, but in cycling it鈥檚 the opposite.鈥�
Under Purnell鈥檚 guidance, cyclists preparing for the Rio Olympics are using new training technology at Manchester Velodrome in the hope of bringing home even more medals than they did four years ago.
Transponders fitted to bikes measure the time taken to get from A to B and offer power profiles through readings taken from the bikes鈥� cranks as riders kick out of the starting gate.
Where previously rides were timed using a stopwatch, the technology has removed the potential for human error 鈥� which makes all the difference when the goal is to shave fractions of time off a performance.
鈥淚t鈥檚 accurate timing, accurate power and speed and accurate weather monitoring,鈥� Purnell says.
鈥淭he temperature and pressure in the velodrome can change the performance that you鈥檙e capable of and the riders can adjust for that now we鈥檙e able to take accurate readings.
鈥淲e鈥檝e developed the technology ourselves and some of it seems really simple, like the automatic timing equipment, but it鈥檚 surprising how inaccurate stopwatches are and how much the coaches get distracted by having to time people.鈥�
Working with a supplier, Purnell and his team have worked on the power measurement technology that looks at wheel speed and cadence of the pedals during a ride.
At the end of training the rider and their coach can see exactly how they have performed using the resulting data, which can provide the basis for future training sessions or gym work.
鈥淥ver the past two years we鈥檝e seen more of this data-driven culture; in the beginning the coaches would talk to the riders and there would be more opinion, but today there鈥檚 more fact and that lifts everything,鈥� adds Purnell.
鈥淪port loves opinion and emotion, but scientists have no time for either.
鈥淲e don鈥檛 want to spoil the good feeling but we can balance that by equipping them with hard scientific fact when they go out, and I think we鈥檝e achieved that balance.鈥�