For months the buzz was out that Japan would use some futuristic technology in Rio 2016 to inspire a new generation of athletes for the 2020 Olympics in Tokyo.

Virtual reality was at its best as Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, dressed as Super Mario in a red cape, was shuttled through time and space from his limousine in Japan through a tube directly into the closing ceremony in Rio.

When I learnt of Shinzo Abe’s two-minute montage, I wanted to desperately talk to our Minister of Sports. I wanted to see if some connection could be made where Usain Bolt and possibly Elaine Thompson’s’ holograms, along with the cheers from Half-Way-Tree, could directly be beamed on a cell phone screen above our athletes heads as they paraded in the closing ceremony in Rio.

Believe me, with virtual technology it can be done with smartphones within a few seconds. Japan is known internationally for technological innovations and Japan is now setting the tone for Tokyo 2020. Visitors who want to stay next to the Olympic Village in the Odaiba, Japan, will be able to hang with robots who will give information about entertainment, culture and food. The Japanese have already created language translation gadgets that can be worn on the feet, neck and arms. The Japanese are making man-made meteorites to use instead of fireworks in 2020. The Japanese started to integrate sports into a slumping technologically savvy economy long before the 2008 Olympics in Beijing, China, were over. Even with a rapidly ageing population, the Japanese have indicated that they are resourceful and innovative and in crisis can reinvent themselves. They are using their technological skills to increase their visibility in sports and it has been speculated that Japan will be the first host nation to earn more from the Olympics in the years preceding the Olympics.

Why can’t Jamaica turn its economy around by using sports to increase the reach in the technological world?

In 2007, the Japanese used sensor technology and magnetic resonance imaging to dissect and analyse the sprinting anatomy of our first 100m world record holder (see video at hight3ch.com/the-science-behind—speed-documentary).

They found that the Psoas muscle, hidden under the abdomen, contracts with the hip muscles and makes the athlete very explosive. The muscle is one of the hardest to get functioning properly without specialised intervention. Research has shown that a properly trained psoas muscle corrects hip flexion, increases the arc in the feet, and causes speed to increase regardless of ethnicity. Therefore, it was the data from a Jamaican world record holder that helped to unravel how the arcs in feet can be adopted to sprinting. No wonder the Japanese athletes came second in the men 4 x100m sprint relay in Rio.

I still marvel at the progress the Japanese have made in sprinting. The world speaks constantly about Jamaica’s sprinting prowess. With such remarkable talent, why have we not increased the medal tally exponentially since the 2008 Olympics in Beijing? We also have one of the most knowledgeable coaches in Steven Francis. He is a master tactician; I laughed when I saw him send Elaine to test Dafne Schippers’ response around the bend/curve in the 200m semi-final. How many of us watching realised that it was a pre-test of the competitor’s stride response at sub-maximal or maximal lactate threshold. I expected Elaine, Shelly-Ann (Fraser-Pryce), Shericka (Jackson), Bolt and Omar (McLeod) to medal in Rio because of the stark visibility of talent and guts.

But what about the other athletes who are always waiting in the wings? Javon (Francis) is an enormous talent, who does his best in the relays. We have endocrinologists and sport psychologists in Jamaica; therefore, we should be able to assist Javon to challenge his magnificent race run in the relays to his individual race. This is modern time. agility control along with physical training and psychological robustness can be used to channel Javon’s relay win into an individual medal win.

One of Professor Michael Boyne’s classical essays for his students in the biochemical physiology class is: The body response to a particular race (sprint/marathon)? The Japanese have corrected the flat feet run of their sprinters so that in less than a decade they have emerged to challenge the dominance of the Americans and Jamaicans in sprinting.

Where is the science and technology in our national programme? Allyson Felix had a devastating injury less than three months ago yet with water technology and sensor detection of running the curve at a certain degree she was able to reduce or prevent a flare up of her injury in Rio. I know of at least two academic medical doctors and one PhD physical therapist who went with the national team to Rio. These are doctors who teach in Jamaica’s premier medical and research school, and therefore understand the science, medicine and technology that can be used to detect acute or chronic muscle problems. We took two athletes to Rio that probably should not have gone. Could we have done blood tests on Hansle Parchment and Janieve Russell to indicate whether the inflammatory muscle enzymes creatinine kinase and lactate dehydrogenase were elevated thus indicating inflamed muscles that could not be healed before the start of the games?

The money could have been used to take Jason Morgan. Who knows he might have medalled. Kaliese Spencer and Rusheen McDonald have not fulfilled their potential over time. We should be using performance analytics and psychology to find out why. Even if we cannot help them now, we can use the research to inspire a new generation of athletes who might be faced with the same problems. The Japanese have the performance analytics technology.

Which of our young doctors and scientists are we preparing to engage the Japanese in sport robotics physiology? There is an embassy of Japan in Jamaica. The process must start now in time for the Olympics in 2020. We must present to the world a picture of an inclusive, yet exclusive sporting model, so that the Japanese and others understand that as they use our model to develop, we are going to use their technology and skills to enhance Brand Jamaica.

Sprinting innovation with the scientific and medical supports must become endemic in Jamaica. I am therefore asking the ministers of sports and technology to use some innovation to move our sport products into the technological age, so come 2020, we may be able to sprint with the robots in Tokyo.

Editor’s note: Dr Rachael Irving is the Senior Research Fellow in the Faculty of Medical Sciences at the University of the West Indies, Mona.