Rio stars using tech to unlock potential

|2 August 2016|

Brazil

Elite athletes chasing gold at this month’s Rio Olympics are using pioneering technology to help unlock their potential.

A company which set out to ‘build the technology that could change the world’, WHOOP “is the first scientifically-grounded system worn by the best athletes in the world to positively change behaviour and unlock peak performance,” the company’s website says.

And the system is popular with elite athletes, with 20 Olympic athletes, including front-runners like swimmer Ryan Lochte, wrestler Adeline Gray, and beach volleyball team Casey Patterson and Jake Gibb, are training on the sports performance platform in preparation for Rio.

“Over my many years on the national team I’ve learned that training for the Olympics is more than just long hours in the pool and weight room,” said five-time Olympic gold medalist and current world record holder, Ryan Lochte. “Much of your success in the pool comes from what you do outside of it. WHOOP has given me insight into my sleep and recovery which ultimately helped push my training to new levels.”

Swimmer Connor Jaeger, the American record holder and World Championship silver medalist in the 1500 freestyle who won both the 400 and 1500 freestyles at Olympic Trials, said: “Being a professional athlete requires a ton of travel with sponsor commitments, competitions and training camps. It being an Olympic year only made my travel schedule that much more strenuous. Over the past year WHOOP has helped me understand how my body reacts to jet lag and how quickly it acclimates to new time zones. Because of what I learned via WHOOP, I flew into Omaha for Olympic Trials several days early to acclimate, swam my best time ever and will be headed to Rio next month.”

The opening ceremony of the Rio Olympics takes place this Saturday (6 August).