Duncan Armstrong, an Australian swimmer, said as much following his gold medal in the 1988 Seoul Olympics.

The Olympics stand for superiority. Athletes from all over the world have the chance to fulfill their aspirations and establish themselves as the unchallenged leader in their discipline every four years.

The same is true for the financial services companies and fintechs that collaborate with the biggest sporting event in the globe.

With the Olympic Games in Paris in 2024 quickly approaching, FinTech Futures examines how the relationship between financial services and the Olympics has changed recently, what to anticipate from it at the 33rd Olympiad in France, and how the sector might influence the games in the years to come.

A thriving partnership
There is ample evidence of the connection between fintechs and the Olympics. The financial services industry offers creative tech solutions that the International Olympic Committee (IOC) has long recognized as beneficial. Fintechs have also seized the chance to present new products or even just rename existing ones.

Consider the 2008 Beijing Olympics, which introduced China to the "Great Wall" card, a new payment method provided by China's UnionPay and the Bank of China. Only visitors could use the bank-issued prepaid card, which gave them access to China's payment system so they could make purchases while at the games.

London's 2012 Olympics served as a breeding ground for financial innovation. Using Visa's payWave technology, Samsung tested the market with the release of a mobile phone that supported near-field communication, even though smartphone-based payments were still in their infancy. During the games, Visa showcased their contactless payment card, which was accepted at more than 3,000 retail locations throughout the Olympic sites.

Visa used the 2018 Winter Olympics in PyeongChang as an occasion to introduce three wearable payment devices. With the use of Olympic pins, commemorative stickers, and near-field communication-enabled payment gloves, the paytech behemoth enabled athletes and spectators to make payments with a single tap at any contactless terminal.

The IOC has been using more and more AI breakthroughs in recent times. AI was employed at the Tokyo Games of 2021 to improve security protocols, gather athlete performance data from wearable sensors, and even contribute to the creation of the official theme song.

The IOC also made an effort in 2021 to implement its digital plan to "embrace new digital technologies" by providing Olympic pins that are non-fungible tokens (NFT) that are sold through the marketplace of the tech platform nWayPlay, which is headquartered in San Francisco.

Paris 2024 and Fintech

Olympics in Paris in 2024 - Fintech news

This year's 33rd Summer Olympic Games will take place in Paris.

Since France is hosting the Summer Olympics for the first time since 1924, all eyes will be on it this year.

The fintechs will be in town in addition to the athletes and fans. The organizers of the Paris Olympics have designated the Chinese IT giant Alibaba as an official cloud service provider and global partner. Alibaba Cloud, the event's digital backbone, will be directly utilized by the organizers.

In an effort to "digitalise the Olympic games," Alibaba Cloud stated in 2020 that its technology will assist the digital infrastructure of Paris 2024 and house the official interactive website, Paris2024.org.

Visa has been a global partner of the Olympics since 1986, and its name is frequently included in the fintech and Olympics narrative. The official payment technology partner of the next games will once more make its payment solutions available to both the organizing committees and spectators.

With its Team Visa program, which aims to give participants tools and resources to support them "on and off the pitch," the global payments heavyweight is also dedicated to the future of the athletes on display. A total of 56 Team Visa athletes are scheduled to compete in Paris in 2024.

In the UK, NatWest and Team GB collaborated on a scheme akin to this, announcing that the financial institution is providing resources to rivals in GB to assist in establishing small companies should they choose to do so.

Visa has also announced a collaboration with Fibank in Bulgaria to create credit and debit cards with Olympic and Paralympic themes centered around Paris 2024. A Visa representative emphasized the company's dedication to the “values and spirit” of the games and stated that the cards give “Fibank customers the opportunity to enjoy unique benefits” in remarks made to FinTech Futures.

In the meantime, this summer will see more use of AI in technology when Intel's AI-powered 3D Athlete Tracking (3DAT) system is introduced for the first time at the Paris Paralympics. By using cameras with artificial intelligence (AI) and computer vision, this is expected to enhance the spectator experience by giving viewers biomechanical analysis of the competitors (i.e., their speed, how far they've got left in the race, and so on). The data will be displayed in near real-time on the screen and during replays.

2028 and later

The IOC has set tech innovation as a top priority for the future, and it has entrusted global business consulting firm Deloitte with supporting its digital transformation strategy. A relationship through 2032 has been agreed upon, and the Olympic committee will make use of the tech skills and expertise of the UK-based corporation as it tries to replace its old systems and personalize the fan experience.

In an intriguing turn of events over the past few years, the financial services industry has also attempted to use the Olympic environment by appointing former athletes as CEOs of their companies. Businesses are realizing the advantages of hiring highly competitive people in a highly competitive environment.

Helen Bierton, a 2004 Summer Olympics competitor for Great Britain in archery, was named director of daily banking at Lloyds this year. Nico Simko, a former youth fencing Olympian, worked his way up at JP Morgan before starting the digital banking platform Clair.

It's evident that financial services and the Olympics are linked, whether it's by supplying the infrastructure needed for the payment systems used during the games or by assisting in the discovery of tomorrow's fintech leaders. With their goods, both hope to bring people together and honor the pioneers of innovation. We anticipate that this relationship will only get better.