“The only advantage we can possibly have is: Can we learn quicker and move faster than the opposition and get an advantage in?” Holl said. “And data is a key part of how you can move faster and be ahead of the game.”
Rocks and ice, meet mobile devices and big data.
The 500-year-old sport of curling is sliding into the digital age at the Winter Olympics, with modern technology helping teams sift through game stats and performance data to maximize their chances at a medal, AP reports.
Major pro sports like baseball and football have increasingly used data analytics to identify undervalued players and better inform coaching decisions. Now curling — a sport more often thought of as a pastoral pastime played by amateurs with dad bods and day jobs — is also turning to number-crunching.
“Data is king,” said Nigel Holl, executive performance director of the British curling team, an early adopter of curling tech.
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