Ahead of the Euros opening match, members of the England national team are following in the footsteps of several A-list celebrities and wearing smart rings, but can the technology help fine-tune the team's performance?
by Mickey Carroll, science and technology reporter
Saturday 15 June 2024 02:00, UK
The England team will not take any chances ahead of Euro 2024 by wearing the titanium health rings worn by some of the world's biggest celebrities.
As the team trained ahead of their Euro 2024 opener against Serbia on Sunday, the manager Gareth Southgate He was spotted wearing an Oura tracking ring.
Midfielder Conor Gallagher has also been spotted wearing it, while defender John Stones has previously described it as “addictive”.
“We're beaming with pride when we see elite athletes choosing Oura – it's absolutely fantastic,” the company's chief commercial officer Dorothy Kilroy told Sky News.
So what is it?
Wearable trackers like the Oura ring can help people healthSleep, heart rate, stress levels, active periods, etc.
For many of us, they remind us to take care of ourselves; for athletes, they help us perform at our best.
“Rings are now extremely sophisticated,” said Joan Bocas, a wearables expert who runs the digital healthcare company Sartem.
“It records your heart rate, changes in skin temperature and your resting heart rate. [The new model] It also features a blood oxygen sensor that provides insight into your daily life, including stress and resilience.”
So will England have the advantage?
England are already favourites to win the Euros, but the men's team have never won the trophy at the tournament.
They will be looking for anything that will help them bring home the silverware.
Dave Thomas works with England's Olympic and Paralympic athletes at the English Institute of Sport and teaches 'future technologies'.
He says the ring could give England's sports scientists new insight into how the players perform during the tournament.
“In sports there are different wearables that are used for different situations,” Thomas told Sky News.
“They are, [the athletes] It may be about to bug or be overloaded.
“We can give indications to sports scientists and coaches that they need to back off a little bit and give themselves a little bit of a rest.”
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Thomas, who works with wearable devices that aren't typically commercially available, noted that trackers like the Oura ring are more useful to athletes, which means they're actually being used.
“[Commercial trackers] Some are reliable and have very little hassle, whereas many become increasingly hassle for the athlete as the level of precision, accuracy and reliability increases.
“They really just want to focus on playing, focus on training and focus on resting.”
Are trackers like this the future?
Health trackers have been around since the 1960s and as a kid you probably had a dusty pedometer in your kitchen drawer, but they've recently become a big hit on the market.
Celebrities have also joined in the fun, with Kim Kardashian, Prince Harry and Gwyneth Paltrow all wearing Oura rings.
“There's definitely a 'fashion tech' trend where people are seen wearing the latest gadgets,” Bokas said.
“But I also think COVID-19 has heightened awareness of what's important. [in terms of our health]”
Oura's Kilroy agrees: She believes the pandemic has sparked increased demand for wearable health tech.
“We all felt like we had no control over our health, right? There was a lot going on and we were scrambling to Google for answers,” she said.
“Having access to your own data about the state of your body, and being able to understand it and be empowered by it, I think once you get a taste of it, it's actually quite liberating.”
But Bokas said the health jewelry trend won't last long.
“In five or 10 years, the wearables we see today — bracelets, rings, watches — will be obsolete,” he said.
“The technology has gotten so advanced that we can have sensors built into our clothes, belts, glasses, shoes and, slightly more controversially, we're also seeing skin-implantable sensors, which don't require you to wear anything.”
For now, England fans will be hoping that the rings on some of their team's fingers will be enough to make them champions.
