Technology created at USP helped prepare the Brazilian judo team for the Paris Olympics

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Agência FAPESP* –Agência FAPESP* – A technology developed at the Center for Mathematical Sciences Applied to Industry (CeMEAI) that uses mathematics to identify sporting talent will be represented at the 2024 Paris Olympics by athletes from the Brazilian Judo Confederation.

CeMEAI is a FAPESP Research, Innovation and Dissemination Center (RIDC) based at the Institute of Mathematical and Computer Sciences of the University of São Paulo (ICMC-USP), in São Carlos.

The software, called iSports, is based on statistical models. It was designed as a kind of sports “scout,” initially applied to soccer. The program carries out tests and stores physical and technical results, generating graphs, tables and parameters that allow professionals in the sport to analyze and interpret the data, making it an auxiliary tool for checking athletes’ performance.

“iSports can be used to more objectively identify athletes who perform above average in a group, thus discovering talent,” explains one of the creators of the virtual tool, Francisco Louzada Neto, professor at ICMC-USP and CeMEAI’s Technology Transfer coordinator.

The project caught the attention of Brazilian sports leaders from other disciplines. In 2020, iSports Judo was born, with adaptations to the variables collected for athlete analysis.

The interest came from Leandro Carlos Mazzei, a professor at the State University of Campinas (UNICAMP) and one of the people responsible for applying the research at the Brazilian Judo Confederation. The work was so successful that in 2022 it won the prize (BRL15,000) for Sport Innovation at the Brazilian Olympic Congress. One of the authors won the opportunity to experience the Paris 2024 Olympic Games.

Mazzei traveled to the competition with the ambassadors of the Brazilian Olympic Committee (COB). “The tool has helped to monitor some of the athletes who are in Paris representing Brazilian judo,” the professor explains.

According to Mazzei, iSports has helped improve performance information, including strength, speed and endurance testing.

“CeMEAI has adapted the software very well to the needs of judo and brought together a multidisciplinary team of professionals. We’re going to continue using the technology because at the end of the Paris competition cycle, we’ll already be thinking about Los Angeles. We know that the tool has all the conditions to contribute to other disciplines and to the technological evolution of Brazilian sport,” says Mazzei.

Louzada recalls that the use of the software demonstrates the importance of developing academic products aimed at the community. “This feedback also gives us great encouragement to continue our fight to offer intelligence to the national bodies that regulate sport and strive for quality sport that can be accurately measured,” he concludes.

* With information from CeMEAI.

<p><strong>Agência FAPESP</strong>* – A technology developed at the <a href="https://bv.fapesp.br/en/auxilios/58570/" target="_blank"><strong>Center for Mathematical Sciences Applied to Industry</strong></a> (<a href="http://www.cemeai.icmc.usp.br" target="_blank"><strong>CeMEAI</strong></a>) that uses mathematics to identify sporting talent will be represented at the 2024 Paris Olympics by athletes from the Brazilian Judo Confederation.</p>

<p>CeMEAI is a FAPESP Research, Innovation and Dissemination Center (<a href="http://cepid.fapesp.br/en" target="_blank"><strong>RIDC</strong></a>) based at the Institute of Mathematical and Computer Sciences of the University of São Paulo (ICMC-USP), in São Carlos.</p>

<p>The software, called iSports, is based on statistical models. It was designed as a kind of sports “scout,” initially applied to soccer. The program carries out tests and stores physical and technical results, generating graphs, tables and parameters that allow professionals in the sport to analyze and interpret the data, making it an auxiliary tool for checking athletes’ performance.</p>

<p>“iSports can be used to more objectively identify athletes who perform above average in a group, thus discovering talent,” explains one of the creators of the virtual tool, <a href="https://bv.fapesp.br/en/pesquisador/6743/francisco-louzada-neto" target="_blank"><strong>Francisco Louzada Neto</strong></a>, professor at ICMC-USP and CeMEAI’s Technology Transfer coordinator.</p>

<p>The project caught the attention of Brazilian sports leaders from other disciplines. In 2020, iSports Judo was born, with adaptations to the variables collected for athlete analysis.</p>

<p>The interest came from Leandro Carlos Mazzei, a professor at the State University of Campinas (UNICAMP) and one of the people responsible for applying the research at the Brazilian Judo Confederation. The work was so successful that in 2022 it won the prize (BRL15,000) for Sport Innovation at the Brazilian Olympic Congress. One of the authors won the opportunity to experience the Paris 2024 Olympic Games.</p>

<p>Mazzei traveled to the competition with the ambassadors of the Brazilian Olympic Committee (COB). “The tool has helped to monitor some of the athletes who are in Paris representing Brazilian judo,” the professor explains.</p>

<p>According to Mazzei, iSports has helped improve performance information, including strength, speed and endurance testing.</p>

<p>“CeMEAI has adapted the software very well to the needs of judo and brought together a multidisciplinary team of professionals. We’re going to continue using the technology because at the end of the Paris competition cycle, we’ll already be thinking about Los Angeles. We know that the tool has all the conditions to contribute to other disciplines and to the technological evolution of Brazilian sport,” says Mazzei.</p>

<p>Louzada recalls that the use of the software demonstrates the importance of developing academic products aimed at the community. “This feedback also gives us great encouragement to continue our fight to offer intelligence to the national bodies that regulate sport and strive for quality sport that can be accurately measured,” he concludes.</p>

<p><em>* With information from CeMEAI.</em></p>

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