Fudan University plays a part in Olympic medal haul

Fudan University received a letter of appreciation from the Chinese Yachting Association on Sunday thanking it for the technical support it offered to the national windsurfing team at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics.

Two Chinese athletes won medals at the windsurfing RS: X finals on Saturday.

Lu Yunxiu won gold in the women’s windsurfing RS: X final and Bi Kun won bronze in the men’s windsurfer RS:X bronze competition.

The technical team was led by Zhu Qian, lab director from the School of Information Science and Engineering at Fudan University. Zhu’s team conducted field research in Enoshima, an island in Kanagawa, Japan, in July and August 2019, a year ahead of the originally scheduled Games. There, the team analyzed the hydrologic conditions and provided prediction reports on the wind and water conditions.

“Two factors - wind and water flow - are essential to windsurfing competitions,” said Zhu, whose team had also provided technical support for the London 2012 and Rio 2016 Olympic Games.

“We analyzed the sea-surface wind speed and direction data and the characters of seawater velocity and flow direction at different locations. It’s nothing like weather forecasting. There’s no effective way so far to accurately predict the change of wind and water flow every 50 meters on the sea,” he added.

To ensure the analysis and prediction are as accurate as possible, Zhu’s team used the lunar calendar instead of the Gregorian calendar to design their data collection plans. According to Zhu, this method helped the team to grasp more accurate trends and patterns of astronomical tides, which have a major impact on seawater levels and other conditions in windsurfing competitions.

“These are fundamental data useful for contestants. We do our best to help contestants to choose the sailing course that is most beneficial to their performance in the competition,” he said.

Zhu’s team has been cooperating with organizations including the China Water Sports Administration and the Shanghai Aquatic Center in research and development of water sports equipment for a decade. The team has over the years developed and upgraded a host of hydrological monitoring equipment, such as the latest high-precision positioning devices that are backed by the Beidou satellite navigation system.

Zhu said the team will continue to improve hydrological monitoring skills and technology for water sports.