Black helmet on his head, Pablo Mateo bends his legs and stretches an arm back, as if to receive a witness, then triggers his race on three massive supports that make suffer a gray carpet, instead of the usual tartan.

The young athlete (22 years old), member of the 4x100 m relay of the France team, is agitated on Thursday, June 1 in a room of level -1 of the headquarters of the French Athletics Federation (FFA), in the 13th arrondissement of Paris. Virtually, he is at the Stade de France, hears the rumble of the crowd, and sees a virtual teammate rushing to pass the baton to him on the future purple track of the Olympics.

The objective: the sprinter must trigger his race at the right time to ensure a smooth passage, with a margin of error of 80 cm, or a few milliseconds. The sensors on his shoes and in the room will give their verdict: green if successful, red in case of failure.

"It allows me to do a lot more rehearsals than in real life, where you have to go fast and draw physically and nervously. This is not too tiring. It allows us to work on the precision of decision-making", appreciates Pablo Mateo.

"Optimising"

In a few minutes, the athlete makes about thirty passes, solicited by his tireless imaginary teammate, against three or four for a classic track session, reducing the risk of injury to almost nothing.

"The idea is to leave nothing to chance and to optimize their preparation for the Paris Olympics as much as possible by offering as many tools as possible," said relay manager Richard Cursaz, who convened the torchbearers for several days of regrouping.

The men's 4x100m, vice-champion of Europe in August 2022 and finalist at the Worlds a month earlier, is one of the few medal hopes of French athletics at the Paris Games. The collective will calibrate Friday night at the Diamond League meeting in Paris, a first outing this season to prepare for the World Championships in Budapest (August 19-27).

Athlete and member of the French 4x100m relay team, Pablo Mateo, warms up before a training session with a virtual reality headset in Paris, June 1, 2023 © FRANCK FIFE / AFP/Archives

"It's not going to be a revolution either, it's going to be marginal gains no matter what," Cursaz said of virtual reality. "It also has the effect of showing athletes that we leave nothing to chance, and that it is important to prepare for any situation."

"Big pressure"

In the small white room where the athletes parade all afternoon, half a dozen people scrutinize screens and computers, replace the sensors, and give instructions.

These researchers from the Institute of Movement Sciences (ISM), Aix-Marseille University, are part of the Revea project (Performance Optimization through Virtual Reality). Coordinated by Rennes-2 University, Revea brings together three projects for gymnastics, boxing and athletics federations for Paris-2024.

"There is a techno part that is still quite expensive and time-consuming, because we had to develop a specific application dedicated to training, then optimize it on the basis of tests we carried out on the field with the coaches and with the athletes," explains Gilles Montagne, the athletics project manager.

"We left with a lot of pressure because the time of research is a long time. We managed to deploy the technology less than a year before the Games, from this point of view, the contract is fulfilled, "says the researcher, only two years after the call for projects, funded in part by the National Research Agency (ANR).

Athlete and member of the French 4x100m relay team, Ryan Zeze, trains with a virtual reality headset in Paris, June 1, 2023 © FRANCK FIFE / AFP/Archives

"We have not heard of this type of solution abroad," points out Mr. Montagne, about this unique asset to shine at the Olympic Games.

© 2023 AFP