Case Study
Racing Against Time
How M&S Consulting and IBM built real-time performance analytics that took Team USA's cyclists from sixth in the world to Olympic silver at Rio 2016.
6th → 1st
World ranking jump
Silver
Olympic medal, Rio 2016
Minutes
Time to coach insight
2×
Sports deployed
Client
United States Olympic Committee
Engagement
Real-Time Performance Analytics Platform
Partners
IBM
01THE CHALLENGE
Fractions of a second define Olympic outcomes. The data couldn't wait overnight.
When Team USA's cyclists and speed skaters lined up ahead of the 2016 Rio Olympics, raw talent wasn't enough. In sports where hundredths of a second define victory, athletes and coaches needed smarter training, faster insights, and technology that could keep pace with their drive.
For the cycling team, the problem was painfully concrete: critical training data was slow to process. After each run, coaches waited hours, sometimes overnight, to review split times, heart rate trends, and power output. By the time analysis was ready, the training session was a distant memory. Small adjustments that could mean the difference between a podium finish and a consolation round simply weren't happening fast enough.
These were underfunded sports without a dedicated year-round tech team. The solution had to be lightweight, deployable in the field, and immediately useful to coaches who weren't data scientists.
02THE SOLUTION
A Raspberry Pi on the track. Sensor telemetry in the cloud. Coach insights on a tablet in minutes.
M&S Consulting teamed up with IBM to deliver a solution that was fast, flexible, and built to perform under pressure. The architecture was deliberately simple at the edge, and powerful in the cloud.
Edge capture
A Raspberry Pi connected directly to the track's timing system, capturing precise split times for every rider on every run.
Sensor fusion
Heart rate, breathing rate, power output, and environmental data flowed from wearables into a unified telemetry stream via IBM's cloud.
Coach dashboard
Within minutes of a run, coaches reviewed complete performance breakdowns on tablets. Adjustments happened between laps, not overnight.
The solution wasn't purpose-built for one team and then shelved. After proving its value on the cycling track, the platform was repurposed for speed skating at the Utah Olympic Oval, supporting both Olympic and Paralympic athletes with the same core architecture.
03THE RESULTS
From sixth in the world to Olympic silver, with a world record along the way.
Real-time data empowered coaches to adjust strategies on the fly. Rotation decisions, pacing changes, and technique corrections that previously took days to act on were made between training runs.
Analysis of the sensor data surfaced a subtle competitive advantage: a measurable difference in performance between clockwise and counterclockwise riding patterns. The insight was validated through wind tunnel testing and directly informed the team's competition strategy.
Team USA's women's pursuit team rose from sixth in the world, set a world record in the trial round, and earned an Olympic silver medal at the 2016 Rio Games.
Silver
Olympic medal
Women's pursuit team, Rio 2016, one of the highest-profile outcomes in U.S. cycling that year.
World record
Set in the trial round
Qualifying results that validated every training adjustment the analytics platform enabled.
2×
Sports deployed
Cycling and speed skating. Same core architecture. Both Olympic and Paralympic athletes served.
<10 min
From run to insight
A multi-hour process compressed to under ten minutes between laps, during live training sessions.
04M&S TEAM
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