Located in the French suburb of Talence near Bordeaux, within a 15-hectare estate, the Centre for Resources, Expertise, and Sports Performance (CREPS) of Bordeaux is a local public training institution specialising in sports and youth training.
The institution, which hosts nearly 450 athletes across 25 training areas, chose Hanwha Vision and its cameras to assist coaches in the training and preparation of athletes.
The CREPS of Bordeaux regularly welcomes delegations of French and international athletes who come to prepare for major events, such as the Olympic and Paralympic Games, World Championships, and European Championships.
To improve athletes’ performance, video intelligence is used by the institution, offering athletes the ability to review their training sessions, playback actions, and complete recordings of their sessions for later analysis. The challenge was to find cameras with a performance level that met the different requirements of various sports disciplines.
In the CREPS of Bordeaux’s fencing hall, which hosts Olympic and world medalists for training, the most challenging task was finding a camera capable of capturing the entire combat area, including 14-metre-long pistes with little space for positioning.
This camera is needed to ensure image quality without distortion and with precision, particularly for sabre fencing where bouts often occur at the ends of the piste.
E-Novon, a company specialising in sports video and a long-time partner of Hanwha Vision, tested different types of cameras in real situations to meet coaches’ needs. “After analysing with the coaches, the PNM-9022V camera was the most suitable due to its angle with minimal guaranteed distortion,” according to Romain Briffa, Director at E-Novon.
Offering a 180° view reconstructed from four high-resolution video sensors, this camera provides a highly detailed image across its entire field of view, without distortion. Additionally, it requires very little space behind the filmed scene.
After evaluating several solutions, Cyril Faucher, Coordinator of the Performance Support Mission within the high-level department of CREPS, concludes, “Due to the quality and fluidity of the images, the solution provided by E-Novon and Hanwha Vision fully satisfies CREPS in optimising training in the fencing hall.”
Currently being deployed for fencing and modern pentathlon training, this solution opens up promising perspectives due to the insights being made available, including tracking fencers on the piste, providing statistics, and more.
