Can IA-THLETICS turn Spain into an Olympic powerhouse? Inside the AI platform powered by IBM watsonx

The Royal Spanish Athletics Federation has partnered with IBM and its technology partner Habber Tec to launch a new artificial intelligence-powered sports performance platform named IA-THLETICS. Built on IBM’s watsonx.data architecture, this AI-driven platform is designed to revolutionize how Spain’s elite athletes train, recover, and compete, with the goal of giving the country a measurable competitive edge ahead of the 2028 Olympic Games.

The IA-THLETICS platform brings together vast volumes of structured and unstructured data collected from athletes’ training sessions, medical evaluations, biomechanical readings, and physiological markers. The centralized infrastructure provides coaches and technical teams with real-time, data-driven insights that enable them to make more personalized and evidence-based decisions on training, technique, and injury prevention. Olympic contenders such as racewalkers Diego García and Aldara Meilán were among the first athletes to demonstrate how the system works during its official presentation in Madrid.

With AI adoption in sports entering a new phase globally, this move by the Royal Spanish Athletics Federation positions Spain among a small group of nations actively operationalizing artificial intelligence in Olympic-level preparation. The partnership between IBM, Habber Tec, and the Royal Spanish Athletics Federation reflects a broader shift toward data-informed athlete management and underscores how artificial intelligence is becoming a core enabler of next-generation sports science.

How does the IBM watsonx-powered IA-THLETICS platform personalize training for elite athletes?

The IA-THLETICS platform is underpinned by IBM watsonx.data, which serves as a centralized data lakehouse capable of storing, consolidating, and analyzing information from a wide range of athlete data sources. These include wearable training sensors, medical diagnostic tools, high-speed video systems, and applications used by coaching teams. Rather than operating in siloed data environments, the Royal Spanish Athletics Federation now has access to a single, controlled source of high-quality data that is both reliable and actionable.

This integrated system empowers coaches to receive real-time performance diagnostics and personalized training recommendations tailored to each athlete’s condition and competition timeline. By capturing variables such as stride symmetry, cadence, biomechanical posture, heart rate variability, and muscle fatigue patterns, the platform helps pinpoint performance bottlenecks before they result in injury or degraded outcomes. During a two-month pilot trial focused on racewalking, the platform processed over 7.5 million individual data points, demonstrating the technical maturity and scalability of the infrastructure.

The addition of disciplines like discus throw, hurdles, and sprints to the IA-THLETICS system is expected to generate exponential increases in data volumes. IBM’s watsonx platform is structured to handle this expansion, offering scalable architecture and built-in machine learning tools to derive deeper insights as the federation evolves its training strategies.

What are the future goals of the Royal Spanish Athletics Federation for AI in national training systems?

By 2028, the Royal Spanish Athletics Federation aims to equip nearly 1,000 coaches with access to the IA-THLETICS platform, creating a nationwide network of AI-informed training environments. This ambitious plan aligns with Spain’s larger digital transformation initiatives in public sector sports and health infrastructure.

The federation is already integrating the platform with existing coaching apps, enabling immediate synchronization between training sessions and performance insights. Coaches no longer need to wait for post-training debriefs or manual video analysis; instead, they receive real-time feedback on technique, form, and areas needing adjustment.

Raúl Chapado, president of the Royal Spanish Athletics Federation, said the initiative marks a new era in athletic development by enabling a level of training personalization previously unattainable. According to Chapado, IBM’s artificial intelligence systems, along with the software integration by Habber Tec, now allow Spain’s athletics teams to transition from intuition-driven training to evidence-based performance management.

How are IBM and Habber Tec shaping institutional-level AI adoption in Spanish sports?

The technological foundation of the IA-THLETICS platform was developed collaboratively between IBM and Habber Tec, a long-standing systems integrator in the Spanish market. While IBM supplied the AI stack and cloud data infrastructure, Habber Tec’s role focused on adapting the system to the specific requirements of the Royal Spanish Athletics Federation, including compatibility with performance-tracking tools, biometric data streams, and regulatory compliance.

Ricardo Arguello, Director of Habber Tec Spain, noted that the platform was designed not only for day-to-day athlete monitoring but also for institutional-scale decision-making. The goal is to provide the federation with a long-term digital infrastructure that can support performance analytics, talent identification, and injury risk mitigation across disciplines and age groups.

From a systems architecture perspective, the IA-THLETICS platform introduces a federated model of training oversight. It enables regional training centers, medical personnel, and national coaching staff to work from the same data ecosystem, minimizing fragmentation and ensuring consistency in performance metrics and coaching decisions.

What are the broader implications for artificial intelligence in sports training and national Olympic strategies?

Spain’s adoption of an AI-powered training platform at the federation level is part of a broader global trend in sports technology. Countries with strong Olympic ambitions are increasingly turning to artificial intelligence and big data to bridge performance gaps, especially as athletic margins grow thinner and the importance of marginal gains rises.

While the United States, United Kingdom, and China have invested in athlete telemetry and biomechanical modeling in the past, Spain’s IA-THLETICS platform is among the first national-level deployments structured around a commercial-grade AI stack such as IBM watsonx. This could serve as a model for other federations in Europe, Latin America, and Asia that are seeking scalable and secure AI infrastructures for Olympic-level sports performance.

Jacobo Garnacho, IBM’s Business Director of Artificial Intelligence and Data for Spain, Portugal, Greece, and Israel, emphasized that the real value of such platforms is not the volume of data captured but how effectively it can be interpreted. According to Garnacho, artificial intelligence is not meant to replace the coach’s eye or the athlete’s intuition but to give both a deeper layer of evidence they can act upon.

How are institutional stakeholders and AI investors viewing IBM’s role in high-performance sports?

IBM’s foray into high-performance sports via the IA-THLETICS project could be seen as part of a larger strategy to diversify watsonx applications beyond enterprise IT environments. Although financial terms of the partnership were not disclosed, industry observers suggest this high-visibility sports deployment enhances IBM’s narrative around the flexibility and impact of its AI tools.

Institutional sentiment around IBM’s AI capabilities has been steadily positive since the rollout of watsonx in 2023, with investors tracking how the platform has expanded from enterprise automation into areas like healthcare, government services, and now sports. The IA-THLETICS initiative is likely to reinforce that trend by providing a tangible, outcome-oriented use case with national visibility.

From a public sector perspective, the project also aligns with Spain’s broader digital transformation goals under European Union-backed recovery and resilience frameworks. By demonstrating scalable AI deployment in a public institution, the Royal Spanish Athletics Federation may serve as a test case for other government-supported AI integrations across education, healthcare, and defense.

What are the next steps for Spain’s AI sports strategy beyond the 2028 Olympics?

Looking ahead, the Royal Spanish Athletics Federation plans to expand IA-THLETICS into youth academies, university sports programs, and rehabilitation centers to create a continuum of data-informed athlete development. There are also discussions underway about integrating predictive analytics for injury forecasting and career longevity planning, which would deepen the platform’s long-term value.

As more training disciplines are integrated, and as additional user feedback refines the interface and performance modeling, IA-THLETICS could eventually become a cornerstone platform not only for Olympic preparation but also for Spain’s broader sports innovation ecosystem. By investing in AI now, Spanish athletics is signaling that podium finishes are no longer just about talent and determination but they are also about information, infrastructure, and insight.

Key takeaways from Spain’s IA-THLETICS AI platform powered by IBM watsonx

• The Royal Spanish Athletics Federation has launched IA-THLETICS, a centralized AI-powered sports training platform built on IBM watsonx.data, with systems integration support from Habber Tec.

• The platform consolidates training sensor data, physiological metrics, and medical records into a single, secure environment for personalized performance insights.

• Olympic athletes such as Diego García and Aldara Meilán have already begun using IA-THLETICS to optimize technique and prevent injury ahead of the 2028 Olympic Games.

• During a two-month pilot, the system processed over 7.5 million data points from a small racewalking cohort, demonstrating its scalability and technical depth.

• IA-THLETICS integrates with coaching applications to deliver real-time, AI-driven training recommendations, improving agility in athlete monitoring and program design.

• By 2028, the platform is expected to be deployed across 1,000 Spanish coaches, forming a national AI-based sports analytics network.

• IBM watsonx is gaining traction beyond enterprise IT, with sports performance analytics emerging as a new commercial and institutional application area.

• Institutional sentiment suggests that the project aligns with Spain’s broader digital transformation strategy, backed by European Union innovation frameworks.

• IA-THLETICS could become a model for other federations looking to embed AI at the national level for Olympic and professional sports development.