Olympic Movement focuses on supporting athletes in first AI Engagement Forum

13 November 2025 – Building on the momentum of the Olympic AI Agenda launched in April 2024, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) held the first Olympic Movement AI Engagement Forum on 12 and13 November 2025 in Lausanne.

KEY FACTS

• The first Olympic Movement AI Engagement Forum was held in Lausanne on 12 and 13 November 2025, hosted by the IOC.
• The Forum focused on “Supporting athletes, clean competition and safe sport,” bringing together stakeholders from across the Olympic Movement.
• Worldwide Olympic Partners, including Alibaba, Allianz, Deloitte , Omega (Swiss Timing), P&G, and Samsung and Olympic media rights-holder the EBU, played a key role in sharing AI-driven innovations and supporting the IOC’s AI Agenda.

This inaugural Forum brought together stakeholders from across the Olympic Movement, including International Federations (IFs), National Olympic Committees (NOCs), Olympic Organising Committees (OCOGs), Worldwide Olympic Partners, and media-rights holders to advance collaboration and share expertise on the responsible use of artificial intelligence (AI) in sport.

The event focused on the theme “Supporting athletes, clean competition and safe sport”, with sessions exploring a wide range of topics including how AI can be used for talent development; coaching, training and performance analysis; judging and refereeing; injury and illness management and prevention; anti-doping; and online abuse protection and mental wellbeing.

Reflecting the Olympic Movement’s commitment to using the vast potential of AI in a responsible way, the Forum served as a platform to strengthen collaboration, deepen knowledge sharing and showcase pioneering initiatives and best practices. It also provided an opportunity for open exchange on implementation approaches, practical challenges and shared ambitions for AI’s role in shaping the future of sport.

Among those who spoke at the Forum were Sarah Walker, IOC Member, Olympic silver medallist in BMX and Chair of the IOC’s AI Working Group; Abhinav Bindra, IOC Member, Olympic gold medallist in shooting and founder of the Abhinav Bindra Foundation; Samantha Bosco PLY, Paralympic champion, two-time Paralympian (Para-cycling); Ryan Pini, Olympian in swimming and Chair of the WADA Athlete Committee; Angela Ruggiero OLY, Olympic champion, four-time Olympian (ice hockey), founder of the Sports Innovation Lab and a former IOC Member; Ilario Corna, IOC Director of Information and Technology; and Dr Jane Thornton, IOC Director of Health, Medicine and Science.

The IOC’s commercial partners, who supported the development of the Olympic AI Agenda, also played a central role in the Forum. Representatives from Worldwide Olympic Partners,  including  Beena Ammanath, Executive Director, Global Deloitte AI Institute, Deloitte Global, and Alain Zobrist, CEO of Swiss Timing, shared AI-driven innovations and contributed to panel discussions. Olympic Partners also took part in a side meeting dedicated to Partners’ support for the IOC’s AI Agenda, including Varvn Aryacetas, Chief Futurist and Head of AI Strategy and Innovation at Deloitte; Min Choi, VP – Head of Mobile Technology Strategy at Samsung; Christophe Pasquier, Head of Audio and Innovation at EBU Sport; David Treves, Director in Brand Building Purchases at P&G; Vladimir Tsaganov, Head of AI Products and Solutions at Alibaba Cloud; Niklas Weiler, Head, AI Strategy and Innovation at Allianz; and Alain Zobrist, CEO of Swiss Timing.

This Forum is about more than technology; it’s about people. We’re bringing leaders together to share what’s working and what’s next, guided by a shared goal: to ensure AI is used responsibly while keeping athletes at the heart of our decisions. It’s an important step in building a future for sport that is both innovative and human.

Sarah Walker, IOC Member, Olympian

AI ALREADY TRANSFORMING SPORT ACROSS THE OLYMPIC MOVEMENT

The IOC and its partners are already harnessing the power of artificial intelligence to enhance the Olympic experience and drive innovation throughout the Olympic Movement.

At the Paris 2024 Olympic Games, AI-powered tools were deployed to safeguard athletes from cyber abuse, while new technologies offered athletes real-time performance insights to support smarter decision-making.

AI also played a key role in improving the fairness and accuracy of judging and refereeing through the provision of precise metrics, and brought fans closer to the action through immersive broadcast experiences, including multi-cam replays, ground-breaking visuals such as athlete tracking and intelligent stroboscopic analysis, and automated highlights generation.

Beyond the field of play, AI is supporting Games organisers in optimising operations and advancing sustainability goals through predictive modelling and energy management tools. The IOC is also exploring AI applications in talent identification, while supporting the responsible use of AI to improve operational efficiency across the Olympic Movement through training programmes, webinars, on-site training and online courses.