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“Smart Move” bears fruits at the Youth Olympic Games in Buenos Aires

The third edition of the Summer Youth Olympic Games (YOG) in Buenos Aires, Argentina, has just kicked off and academic excellence from the region is on the spot to support the educational programme for the 4,000 young athletes. The project is a tangible outcome of Smart Move, the multi-disciplinary network of academic and research entities in the Lausanne region which was launched earlier this year. It aims to provide interdisciplinary answers to complex problems in sport.

Mandated by the International Olympic Committee (IOC), 33 students from the Institute of Sports Sciences of the University of Lausanne (UNIL - ISSUL) and the osteopathy branch of the Fribourg University of Health Sciences (HEdS-FR) currently test the YOG athletes in Buenos Aires in order to provide them with a complete musculoskeletal assessment and an analysis of their posture. The aim is to help them improve their performance and prevent injuries. The students are supervised by academic experts from their universities. All the testing results will be compiled in a technological platform, developed by a start-up from the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Lausanne (EPFL). The facilities hosting these activities during the YOG were developed by students of the masters’ programme for Integrated Innovation (Innokick) at the University of Applied Sciences and Arts Western Switzerland (HES-SO), in collaboration with EPFL. In addition, the renowned National Institute of Sport, Expertise and Performance (INSEP) in Paris has been involved in the development and implementation of all these activities.

“This is academic collaboration at its best” says Olivier Mutter, project manager for the YOG at UNIL. “We are also working with Lausanne 2020 and the IOC on the educational programme for the next edition of the Winter Youth Olympic Games, which will be held in Lausanne in two years’ time. Our presence in Buenos Aires is an important milestone on the road to Lausanne 2020 and will be an invaluable experience for our students.”

Smart Move was strongly represented at THE SPOT and will also play an important role at the second edition, which will take place from 28 to 29 May 2019 in Lausanne. Learn more here.

Click here to read the full UNIL story in French. 

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