CONNECTING OUR EYES, BRAIN, AND BODY CAN MAKE ALL THE DIFFERENCE
The Role of Vision In Olympic Sports
Each sport has different visual needs, but they all share one common feature
The human visual system is one of the most important sensory systems for athletes competing in Professional or Olympic-level sports. Although each sport has unique visual demands, successful athletes generally share certain basic visual abilities.
Some researchers have suggested that as much as 80% of the information that our brains process during sports comes from our vision. This is not surprising when we consider that our eyes are constantly scanning the competition, and taking in a large amount of information.
To be successful, athletes need to be able to quickly process this information and make split-second decisions.
In a recent scientific report, we presented the results of our work with Team USA for the 2008 Olympic games (https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/21378577/) In that report, we evaluated the basic visual abilities of 157 Olympic athletes in multiple sports. We found that although visual abilities differed in each sport, with some having better sharpness of vision and others having better depth perception, they all shared the common trait of having the best function in the skills they needed to perform optimally in their sport.
In fact, there are a number of different visual skills that are important for athletes competing in different Olympic sports. For example, studies have shown that elite-level track and field athletes have excellent motion perception skills, which allow them to accurately judge the speed and direction of their competition. This is obviously important for events such as the 100m dash, where a millisecond can be the difference between winning and losing a race.
Similarly, studies have shown that elite-level soccer players have superior visual skills compared to non-elite players. These skills include not only an average visual acuity of 20/16 but also the ability to accurately judge the speed and trajectory of a soccer ball, as well as track the locations of opponents and teammates on the pitch.
While each sport has its own specific visual demands, as noted in our research, there are some general visual abilities that are important for all athletes. These include the ability to track moving objects, accurately perceive distances, and quickly react to visual stimuli.
Tracking moving objects
The ability to track moving objects is important for many sports, including those that involve hitting a moving target, such as baseball, tennis, and hockey. When hitting a moving target, athletes need to be able to estimate the target’s speed and direction, and then make the necessary adjustments to their movement. Research has shown that this ability is related to how well athletes can track and anticipate moving objects.
Accurately perceive distances
Many Olympic sports involve jumping or throwing objects, such as the javelin, shot put, and long jump. In order to be successful, athletes need to be able to accurately judge distances.
Quickly react to visual stimuli
Many sports require athletes to make quick decisions in response to visual stimuli. For example, in football, players need to be able to quickly react to the movement of the ball and their opponents. This ability is measured as a reaction time and is important for many different Olympic sports.
Vision is important, but so are other factors
While vision is obviously important for success in Olympic-level sports, it is not the only factor. Other important factors include physical fitness, mental toughness, and training. However, if an athlete does not have the necessary visual skills, they are at a disadvantage and are less likely to win a medal.
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