In recent years, data analysis has played an increasingly important role in high-performance sport. To leverage this trend, Judo Canada has entered into a new partnership with JudoData. The resulting collaboration will add an additional tool to the arsenal of Canada’s top judokas, enabling them to continue to shine on the international circuit.

JudoData is a performance measurement tool that provides technical and tactical analysis of fights in the form of tables and graphs. Presently, it contains data from 28 competitions, including the Tokyo Olympics, for a total of about 14,200 bouts.

“When I was an athlete, data analysis consisted of watching my opponents fight at tournaments or filming them with a video camera,” recalls Nicolas Gill, Chief Executive Officer and High-Performance Director at Judo Canada.

“With today’s technology, all the fights are posted on YouTube, but having an abundance of images doesn’t necessarily make the task any easier. JudoData will allow us to conduct an accurate, efficient analysis of the elements our coaches want to focus on in preparation for upcoming bouts.”

JudoData was created by former judoka Emidio Centracchio, 2002 Italian champion in the under-81 kg category. Before launching JudoData, Centracchio, who holds a PhD in physical education and sports science, served as the Italian team’s performance analyst until 2017.

The former athlete, who trained under Janusz Pawlowski—currently an assistant coach with the Canadian team—had long dreamed of creating his own automated data analysis system.

“Nowadays, there are images everywhere, so the real development is in our ability to use that data to optimize athletic performance. In the near future, data analysis of our sport will reach a whole other level,” he explained.

While JudoData is currently being used to analyze fights at the international level, in the long term, Judo Canada hopes to implement the technology at home to assess the performances of athletes on the Canadian competition circuit.