Ayer was speaking after participating in the Conference on Smart Textile Opportunities for Sport organised by the International Academy for Sports Science and Technology (AISTS) in conjunction with the Swiss Center for Electronics and Microtechnology (CSEM)

The conference discussed influence of technology across a variety of different sports, both at Olympic and grassroots levels.

Taekwondo's introduction of a new scoring system in the aftermath of criticism at Beijing 2008 was hailed as good example of this, and something which "changed the whole dynamic of the sport."

This was something accepted by Ayer who admitted it had played a key role in the International Olympic Committee (IOC) preserving taekwondo's Olympic status earlier this year.

"To stay in the Olympics one of the things we had to do is develop methods to make sure the judging was correct and that we had absolutely no mistakes," he told insidethegames.

"When you see someone kicking you can't really tell from a distance whether it was strong enough to score or not, so the technology is really helping us.

"By doing this we have fulfilled one of the IOC criteria that they set for our sport."

Jean Marie Ayer among other speakers with the Tentino 2013 Universade Flame which made a guest appearence to conclude the conference


Ayer admitted there had been problems before the introduction of the new system, with the controversy surrounding a head kick in the final stages of a quarter-final between eventual bronze medalist Sarah Stevenson of Britain and Chinese fighter Chen Zhong one example.

"In Beijing we were not ready with all the technology - electronic scoring and video replay's have proven to be very important decision," he said. 

"We have been very honest in evaluating what happened there and made a conscious decision to make the sport different.

"Feedback is very good from athletes and coaches as they know they are not going to be unfairly judged and this gives them a level of control which is very high."

This view regarding taekwondo was endorsed by another speaker, Jan-Anders Månson, President of AISTS.

He described taekwondo as one of the best examples of the use in technology in sport - and "as a major example for the use of fair play and safety."

Taekwondo was transformed after Beijing 2008 by the new scoring system...a good example of technology in sport


The conference also highlighted how not every Olympic sport has embraced this technology as well as taekwondo.

A study carried out by AISTS found that, out of 50 International Federations surveyed, only 22 per cent had looked at general equipment, 12 percent venue infrastructure and four per cent biomechanics, while only one had explored specifically textile based technology.

A ranking system formulated by a student on the AISTS masters programme had labelled three non-Olympic disciplines - kite-surfing, hiking and formula one - as most keen to embrace new technology.

This is not to say that Olympic sports are not affected to a large degree.

Masson highlighted the example of swimming where, after the world record evolution of 0.8 per cent between 1988 and 1992, and 1.1 per cent between 1996 and 2000, a staggering 43 world records were set in a single competition at the 2009 World Championships in Rome due to the advances in textile suits.

Other sports to have been impacted include cycling, with advances in technology for measuring power output, which has revolutionised training methods, and shooting due to kit which boosts muscle and body stabilisation and thus a steady aim.

Ranked fourth in the AISTS sports survey, Alpine skiing was another good example, and its embracing of technology was explained by another speaker, France's Turin 2006 downhill champion Antoine Dénériaz.

Antoine Dénériaz was perfectly placed to talk about technology in alpine skiing having won the gold medal at Turin 2006


Dénériaz, now managing his own sports marketing brand, described good technology as one of many components necessary for success, along with technical, physical and mental training, being ready on the time, and having that vital bit of luck.

He described skiing as a "formula one kind of sport" due to the technological focus, and particularly emphasised the work with regard to ski's and race suits in order to improve performance.

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