A light blinks on the black box alerting the gymnast to begin her routine. She launches off the vault, lands and turns to salute the robotic judge. Her score is already flashing on the big screen to the Olympics crowd and to millions of viewers at home, who have followed the live scoring as the move is dissected in real time.

This is not a scene from Blade Runner 2049, but a possible vision of gymnastics future as it races to include artificial intelligence in its judging system.

The International Gymnastics Federation (FIG) is planning to introduce the AI technology to assist with scoring at the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games (as long as the IOC partner’s for timekeeping and results approves, the plan is good to go). Japanese IT giant Fujitsu, which is developing the 3D sensory system, says the product will help make scoring easier, assist coaches and athletes in training, and offer broadcast viewers in-depth, unparalleled coverage that already has Japanese pundits gushing.

Gymnastics hasn’t had to invest a penny in the technology with Fujitsu footing the research and development bill. The company, which is focused on tracking the vault apparatus since it is shared by men and women, is currently analyzing and gathering data from routines to calibrate its software. The goal? FIG wants judges to have a quick go-to option to speed up delays in scoring, ensure every nuance of an athlete’s performance is recorded and avoid controversial decisions.

“A judge must work for eight hours per day – does that allow the mental capacity to remain coherent? It’s not possible to maintain a coherent mind of criteria. Only the computer does,” said former FIG president Bruno Grande.

But there are stumbling blocks. While the technology has been years in development, the rapid push to rely on a so-far untested platform on the grandest stage could provide concerns. Hackers could see an opportunity to discredit the sport or sway results, judges could find themselves sidelined, and gymnasts’ creativity may ultimately be reined in.

“Gymnasts are known for pushing the skills, looking for new angles, turns, points – so what happens when someone comes along with a totally different routine that has not been seen or registered by the computer,” Olympic great Nadia Comaneci told the Guardian at the recent world championships. “How would that be judged?”

The change comes as the Japanese government pushes an innovation economy, with an Olympics on home soil providing extra incentive to showcase. Tokyo is readying a robot village, driverless taxis and an artificial meteor shower as part of what it hopes are the most technologically advanced Games in history. FIG does not want to miss out on the fun.

Technical coordinator Steve Butcher, who is FIG’s point-man on the project, admits judges are a little nervous about a technology that will alter “the way we judge.”



“In judges, it’s proven there can sometimes be an inherent bias. A program like this can be helpful for settling issues or technical questions,” Butcher said. “This is not to replace judges – not any time soon. We’ll never say that one day we’ll only be using a computer. But who is to say in 20 years from now if things will be different.”

Athletes and judges know little about the technology, which was unveiled – but not used in an official capacity – at last month’s world championships in Montreal. The Guardian spoke with several judges about the technology and they were reticent to embrace it without having been briefed on it.

“The judges have a very tough job on their hands and sometimes they can get a lot of stink for what they do,” said Great Britain’s Olympic champion Max Whitlock, who was surprised by the pace of the technology’s introduction. “It would have to be absolutely perfect. Something like that would be so new to gymnastics it would have to take years and years of testing. It would be very exciting. But it will be a long time in the future, probably not my generation.”

The testing starts with next year’s world championships in Doha, Qatar. FIG president Morinari Watanabe is adamant it will be ready after being elected into office on a platform of innovation.

“We must be ready for 2020. We have a responsibility to give the gymnasts the correct score, we cannot accept an incomplete score from a judge in this time,” Watanabe said. “Once gymnasts see it they will like the technology and that is a great thing – to push the technology forward.”

The push for a black box to record gymnasts scores could provide potential for harm, according to the author of the academic paper The Cybersecurity of Olympic Sports: New Opportunities, New Risks. “In gymnastics, you can have 10 to 100 independent moves the system is trying to score. If the algorithm were manipulated by even a small portion you could affect the overall outcome score and it would be very hard to detect,” said Betsy Cooper, the executive director for long-term cybersecurity at UC Berkeley.

Any technology that relays information from an external source – like this 3D sensor does – to a computer is at risk. Mix the technology with a scoring panel of judges, and there is room for manipulation.

“You can manipulate the algorithms to change the score one out of every five times, making it hard to detect. That area is most disconcerting. Whoever has an interest in the outcome of these major sporting events will also have an interest in trying to take advantage of any such system,” Cooper said.

Who could have such an interest? Some of the best gymnastics programs come from countries that enjoy the strongest cybersecurity programs. There is also the possibility of a fanatical fan feeling a duty to undo a perceived unfairness in the system.

“Technology changes at a pace much faster than folks are expecting. Is the opportunity to incorporate technology worth the risk?” said Cooper, who points to a vault fiasco at the Sydney 2000 Olympics as a cautionary tale of reputational damage that can incur. “Because if you can prove that even one leap was tampered with, how do you go back and ensure the integrity of the competition as a whole?”

Perhaps the risk is worth the reward if it puts gymnastics at the forefront of a technology other Olympic sports like figure skating could adopt. Maybe it’s just a question of evolution.

“I don’t think it will be possible to ever replace judges. Gymnastics is too complex, there are so many skills and nuances in every routine. But I like the idea of the technology,” Comaneci said. “It’s OK to try, why not? This is what is happening in all sports now, technology is changing our experience with it.”