What Technologies Are Used to Train Singapore’s Top Athletes? with Dr. Marcus Lee

The achievements of Singapore’s elite athletes like Joseph Schooling and Shanti Pereira have long captivated and inspired Singaporeans. What kinds of interesting or unexpected technologies are used to train top athletes? How can biomechanics provide a competitive edge? Sport biomechanist Dr. Marcus Lee shares fascinating and surprising stories of how devices from 3D motion capture systems to simple cameras are applied to help Team Singapore athletes perform their best.

Episode Highlights

• How Dr. Marcus Lee translates biomechanics into a "4S model" (Structure, Strength, Skill, Strategy) to support Team Singapore athletes
• The surprising range of tools used in high-performance sports training: from core temperature monitoring pills to eye trackers and more
• The fascinating story of how 3D motion capture and magnetic gates helped identify and improve Shanti Pereira's sprint start technique
• How a simple camera and mathematical calculations helped support the race strategy for Joseph Schooling's historic Olympic gold medal win
• How Singaporeans can use everyday technologies to improve personal fitness

Timestamps

00:00 Intro

00:35 Understanding Biomechanics

02:03 Role of a Sport Scientist

03:19 Interesting Sport Technologies

04:54 Case Study: Shanti Pereira

08:28 Case Study: Joseph Schooling

12:02 Using Technology for Personal Fitness

13:45 Outro

Guest Biography

Dr. Marcus Lee is Director of Special Projects at the National Youth Council and also serves as Director and Principal Sport Biomechanist at the High Performance Sport Institute, Sport Singapore. A former Head of Sport Science and Medicine, Marcus has led teams behind the scenes to support Team Singapore athletes across various sports at major competitions like the Olympics, Asian Games and World Championships—making sure they’re not just ready to compete, but ready to thrive.

Drawing from biomechanics, physiology, nutrition, psychology and medicine, he and his team work closely with coaches and athletes to improve performance, reduce injury risks, and fine-tune every detail—from strength and movement, to recovery and mental prep. As a sport biomechanist, Marcus is especially curious about how the human body moves and performs under pressure, and how to equip athletes with the right strength, skill, and strategies to succeed.

A father of two and passionate advocate for youth development, Marcus believes science should serve people—helping athletes not only win, but grow with purpose and resilience.

Correction

The episode misgeneralises that "distance over time is velocity or speed." While this may serve as a practical shorthand in the sporting context, strictly scientifically speaking, the two terms are not interchangeable. Distance over time is speed, not velocity. Speed is the rate at which an object covers distance, while velocity is the rate at which an object changes its position in a specific direction.

Read the full transcript & show notes at https://voiddeck.science.edu.sg/s2e1-sport-science/