Performance or the Person? Technology Sharpens Elite Sport's Ethical Dilemmas
Elite sport has always lived with the tension between pursuing performance and caring for the person behind it. At Olympiatoppen's research conference, it became clear that data, AI and equipment make that tension greater, not smaller.
<p><strong>Elite sport has always lived with the tension between pursuing performance and caring for the person behind it. At Olympiatoppen's research conference, it became clear that data, AI and equipment make that tension greater, not smaller.</strong></p> <p>Around 175 coaches, researchers and professionals gathered at the Norwegian School of Sport Sciences on 13 October. This year's theme was tensions and ethical dilemmas in elite sport: power and trust between coach and athlete, the individual and the collective, and how far one can go to win. Director of Elite Sport Tore Øvrebø welcomed participants to four plenary lectures and three parallel tracks featuring around 30 presentations.</p> <p>One theme ran throughout the day. Many of the dilemmas are old, but technology gives them new forms. As more of an athlete's life is measured, analysed and predicted, questions about autonomy, fairness and who owns performance become more pressing.</p> <div style="display:grid;grid-template-columns:repeat(auto-fit,minmax(min(100%,260px),1fr));gap:1rem;margin:2rem 0"><img src="/images/olympiatoppen-forskningskonferanse-2026-ki.webp" alt="Conference presentation showing examples of artificial intelligence in sport on the screen." width="1200" height="1600" loading="lazy" decoding="async" style="display:block;width:100%;height:auto;border-radius:8px"><img src="/images/olympiatoppen-forskningskonferanse-2026-foredrag.webp" alt="Speaker on stage at Olympiatoppen's research conference." width="1200" height="1600" loading="lazy" decoding="async" style="display:block;width:100%;height:auto;border-radius:8px"></div> <h2>Equipment, rules and practical wisdom</h2> <p>The day began with Eirik Verås Larsen, Olympic canoeing champion and now sports director at the Norwegian Sailing Federation. He described the close relationship between equipment development and rules, from finding the best solutions within canoeing's rules to sailing, where the rulebook runs to 156 pages and the nations that know it best have an advantage.</p> <p>Liv Hemmestad followed with a presentation on power, trust and practical wisdom in coaching. She highlighted technology's enormous potential for learning more about sleep, nutrition and training, but stressed that it must be used in ways that allow athletes to remain creative, independent and inquisitive, rather than being reduced to numbers.</p> <h2>When data makes the decision</h2> <p>Stian Røsten at Nord University has interviewed 19 Norwegian professional cyclists about how they produce, share and use data. Data has become a prerequisite for receiving support, being selected and securing a contract. The cyclists see its value, but fear that the numbers say too little about how they actually feel and that they will be rejected because they do not look good enough in the data. Above all, they want to be included when the data is interpreted.</p> <p>After lunch, Niko Vuorinen, a doctoral research fellow at the Norwegian School of Sport Sciences and KU Leuven, addressed AI and ethics. He described how AI tools can gradually take over parts of athletes' decision-making, from providing information to adjusting training automatically. He also presented a model that estimated medal prospects in athletics far better than the world rankings, while warning against using such predictions to allocate support. A low prediction can become self-fulfilling. Predictions about people should open doors, not close them.</p> <h2>Technology and biomechanics</h2> <p>In the technology and biomechanics track, Jan Kocbach from NTNU's Centre for Elite Sports Research and Olympiatoppen presented a system for markerless 3D motion analysis in cross-country skiing. The system uses open-source software and video from six to eight cameras to turn recordings into a 3D model of the skier, skis and poles. According to the abstract, permanent installation at Olympiatoppen is to be considered.</p> <p>Lasse Mausehund from the Norwegian School of Sport Sciences showed that handball players who are good at feinting also experience higher knee loads, illustrating how performance and injury prevention can pull in different directions. Sebastian Aagnes compared three downhill positions in cross-country skiing using timing gates and GNSS sensors.</p> <h2>How small are the margins?</h2> <p>The track concluded with Ingrid Eythorsdottir from the Norwegian School of Sport Sciences and Olympiatoppen, who has quantified elite sport's margins across eight disciplines from 1983 to 2025. The main finding challenges a familiar claim: the gap from second place to victory was the largest in seven of eight disciplines. The median ranged from 0.1–0.2 per cent in motorsport to 1.7 per cent in the shot put. The step to the top is the biggest step.</p> <p>The day ended with Geir Jordet, who discussed pressure training from research, practical and ethical perspectives.</p> <h2>What should sports technology take away?</h2> <p>The conference revealed an elite sports community that uses technology closely and thoughtfully, while also asking sharp questions about it. That is a strength. The dilemmas raised cannot be solved by researchers alone. They must be addressed together with those building the technology.</p> <p>For sports technology companies, this means three things. Measurement accuracy is not enough: athletes and coaches must understand how the numbers are produced and be able to question them. Data ownership and privacy are becoming part of the requirements specification, not a footnote. And tools intended for elite sport must be built to strengthen athletes' own choices rather than take them over.</p> <p>Norwegian Sport Tech raised data ownership and privacy in its submission to the new sports policy white paper. We will continue building bridges between research, sport and companies, so that technology makes the best better without the person disappearing into the numbers.</p> <p>This article draws on presentations at Olympiatoppen's research conference on 13 October 2026 and the conference's Book of Abstracts.</p>