Industry expert forecasts sportstech evolutions to shape 2032 Olympics, explains how Gold Coast hub can be key

Imagine taking to the start line in an Olympic 100m final, that experience may not be exclusive to the athletes in 2032. Read why.

This future is closer than ever and Gold Coast could be at the fore of the next sportstech advancements. Picture: NanoStockk.

The line between video games and reality becoming blurred is a daunting concept.

But it’s one we better get used to, and it may well shape the fan experience at the 2032 Olympics, forecasts sports technology industry expert Professor David Martin.

“If you’re a gamer and you play FIFA, or 2K, or these games, you’ll see that the experience and the avatars are getting better and better and better,” Martin said.

“Gaming is going to morph with the actual real game experience.

“You might get situations where you can hijack the game for the last minute of the basketball and you play it out, you be the coach and put in a different player and see if you’ve won and do different roleplays.”

David Martin was one of the panel members at the ASTN’s networking event to launch . Picture: C 4 Creativity.

Martin is well-placed to ascertain the direction the broad industry that is sportstech is headed given he has a plethora of industry experience, from 21 years as the director of performance at the Australian Institute of Sport to the NBA’s Philadelphia 76ers and now as the chief scientist at a Silicon Valley start-up.

It’s hoped the Gold Coast will be at the fore of such innovations following last month’s announcement that the Australian Sports Technologies Network had partnered with the Gold Coast City Council to establish a sportstech hub and the city’s ‘Sportstech Gold Coast Growth Plan’.

Martin noted that Dutch company Sports Beyond was already pursuing technology to blend games with the live sporting experience.

Sony acquired Sports Beyond in 2022, and at the time Sony’s executive vice president Hiroshi Kawano said that the acquisition would help in “bridging live and virtual worlds” of sports entertainment.

Sony has already has acquired technology aiming to bridge the gap between live and virtual sporting entertainment. Picture: Aksonov.

“We aim to create new sports entertainment experiences that unlock the power and emotion of sports,” Kawano told Silicon Canals at the time.

Martin said that the Apple Vision Pro, a headset which can project screens and applications in your view of the real world, was a great indicator of the innovations that could be to come in the sporting world.

“Say there’s a penalty shot, you could transport yourself through immersive technology such as Apple Vision Pro and you could be down on the soccer pitch with the ball in front of you, looking at the goalie, looking at the crowd, looking back at your teammates, and you can feel that experience of everybody chanting,” Martin said.

“The same could be applied to a free throw in basketball, you could sit there and see everything around you.”

Martin also predicted TV broadcasts to be vastly evolved by 2032 to suit the needs of consumers, with viewers able to switch between personalised broadcasts that may lean heavily toward replays, or to analysis. He likened it to selecting the language or whether to have subtitles on when watching Netflix.

“There’s a lot of money in fan engagement, anything that helps fans connect with the sport or the athletes in a more meaningful way is usually big money,” he explained.

“I suspect that the viewing experience within the stadiums and the viewing experience at home will be augmented and refined and personalised.

“Instead of everybody being stuck with the same broadcast … it will probably get to the point where you can start to tune the feed to your wants, wishes and desires so that could be really cool.

“You’d pick your feed, say there’s three different options and I want option A.”

David Martin speaking at the Australian Sports Technologies (ASTN) networking event on the Gold Coast. Picture: C 4 Creativity.

It was revealed last month that AI technology was already been utilised to give Australia’s swimmers an edge in their pursuit for Olympic gold, with the Australian Sport’s Commission’s ‘Sparta 2’ software tracking every swimmer in a race on stroke rate, stroke length, velocity in the pool, turn times and breathing.

Further innovations are right around the corner and already being worked on. Now that a sportstech hub is established on the Gold Coast, the question remains of how that translates to the region’s ability to be at the fore of sportstech innovation.

“The environment here is ideal for innovation and growth, but one of the great challenges is how do you connect to all of the young talented minds,” Martin said, speaking after the ASTN’s inaugural Gold Coast networking event.

“Capable software engineers, electrical engineers, innovators, dreamers, shakers, the next Steve Jobs, the next Elon Musk, how do you attract those kinds of people to come and work here, how do you make this the place to come?

“Apple, Samsung, Intel are all trying to get that talent, one of the real wrestling matches as you try to build something special here is how do you connect to all of the young and talented individuals … how do you get them to want to play with people like them and once you get them how do you keep them?

“Once you do that, then you just want to step back and don’t control them too much. Let them start to hear about all the amazing technologies that are emerging and how they’re going to use it. Let their minds take you where they want to go.

“You just need to finance it, you need the legal expertise to support them, you need to trademark them and protect things, and you need to give them an environment that lets them do their best work.”

With the Olympics on the horizon, Martin can see a flourishing hub of sportstech innovation fostering on the Gold Coast.

After all, his two-decade stint with the AIS was born out of a simple desire to be around for the Sydney Olympics.

“I think the Olympic Games will bring a lot of interesting people here, and they might just say they want to come for the Olympic Games,” Martin said.

“I kind of did that, I came from the US and said I want to go to the Australian Institute of Sport, just (for the 2000 Olympics in) Sydney because it’s so exciting.

“I loved it so much I stayed for 20 years.”

Originally published as Industry expert forecasts sportstech evolutions to shape 2032 Olympics, explains how Gold Coast hub can be key