Alibaba Group has unveiled a short film titled “To the Greatness of HER.” The 8-minute film showcases the evolution of gender equality in sports since the 19th century, utilizing Alibaba Cloud’s artificial intelligence technology to colorize and restore vintage photographs of female athletes’ achievements from past Olympic Games.
Alibaba Group Unveils 8-Minute Film on the Evolution of Gender Equality in Sports
The film premiered at the Alibaba Evening in Paris, coinciding with the Olympic Games Paris 2024. It features three prominent female athletes: Zhang Shan from China, Kathrine Switzer from the United States, and Suzanne Lenglen from France.
“To the Greatness of HER highlights the great progress of women in sports through the course of history. My heartfelt thanks go to our friends at Alibaba for using AI-powered technology to let the achievements of these women in sports shine through the full spectrum of colors.”
More importantly, the film allows us to reflect on one of the most important priorities of the Olympic community – empowering women in and through sports.”
“Gender equality is a team sport. We all have a role to play and we all have to lead by example. With this film, Alibaba is leading by example and using its technological expertise to highlight this important topic.”
– Thomas Bach, President of the International Olympic Committee
The IOC’s commitment to gender equality has resulted in a significant increase in female athlete participation, from 2.2% in Paris 1900 to 50% at the current Olympic Games Paris 2024. This marks the first time the IOC has distributed quotas equally between female and male athletes.
“Alibaba is proud to collaborate closely with the IOC to champion inclusivity and equity, core values that Alibaba firmly upholds. By using cloud-based AI to deepen our understanding of the past and shine a light on the achievements of female athletes, this project is a great example to showcase how technology can be utilized to promote the values we cherish.”
– Chris Tung, President of Alibaba Group, Strategic Development
Additionally, Alibaba Cloud is partnering with the IOC to revitalize historical moments from the Paris 1924 Olympics using cloud-based AI. This initiative aims to transform sports archiving by restoring and colorizing selected Olympic archive footage, allowing audiences to experience Olympic history through innovative AI technology.
Emman has been writing technical and feature articles since 2010. Prior to this, he became one of the instructors at Asia Pacific College in 2008, and eventually landed a job as Business Analyst and Technical Writer at Integrated Open Source Solutions for almost 3 years.
