Alibaba Celebrates Gender Equality at Paris 2024 with AI-powered Restoration of Historic Photos
Alibaba’s Short Film Showcases Progress Towards Gender Equality at the Olympic Games
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Paris 2024 marks a historic milestone as the first Olympics to achieve equal gender representation. When Paris last hosted the Olympic Games, fewer than 5% of competitors were women. A century later, this figure has risen to 50%, making Paris 2024 the first Games to reach full gender parity.
To honor this achievement and celebrate the female Olympians who paved the way, Alibaba Group has used artificial intelligence to colorize and restore vintage photographs of female athletes from 1900 onwards. These enhanced archival materials are featured in the short film “To the Greatness of HER,” which premiered on July 24 in Paris.
The film follows the Olympic journeys of Chinese skeet shooter Zhang Shan, American runner Kathrine Switzer, and French tennis pioneer Suzanne Lenglen, who won 21 grand slam titles between 1921 and 1926.
“Seeing these historical photos renewed by technology enables us to reflect on how far we’ve come and to continue the progress of bringing sport opportunities to more women worldwide,” said Switzer, who made history in 1967 as the first woman to run the Boston Marathon with an official race number. Switzer attended the film premiere alongside Zhang, who became the first woman to win a mixed-sex skeet shooting event during the Barcelona 1992 Olympics.
“By reliving that moment, I hope we can encourage more people to pursue the sports that they are passionate about,” said Zhang.
Driving Inclusion
Over the past 25 years, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) has introduced various initiatives to increase female participation at the Olympic Games. Efforts include adding mixed-gender events, increasing the number of medal events for female athletes, and balancing the total number of competition hours for women’s and men’s sports.
“Gender equality is a team sport. We all have a role to play, and we all have to lead by example,” said Thomas Bach, President of the IOC, in video remarks played during the film premiere.
The range of sports available to women at the Olympics has steadily expanded. Women’s football and softball were introduced in 1996, followed by women’s weightlifting, triathlon, and modern pentathlon in 2000, and wrestling in 2004. In 2012, the introduction of women’s boxing marked the first time women could compete in every sport on the Olympic program.
“Alibaba is proud to collaborate closely with the IOC to champion inclusivity and equity, core values that Alibaba firmly upholds,” said Chris Tung, President of Alibaba Group, Strategic Development.
Revitalizing Historic Moments
Alibaba used cloud-based AI technologies to colorize and enhance the resolution of archival images, while its cloud computing arm worked to rejuvenate video footage from Paris 1924. By leveraging a set of video restoration and colorization models, Alibaba Cloud improved video quality through denoising and deblurring, maintaining a coherent color narrative throughout all frames.
“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,” said Bach.
The initiative aligns with the Olympic AI Agenda that the IOC launched earlier this year, which outlines the envisioned impact AI can deliver for sport and how the IOC intends to lead the global implementation of AI within sport. The Olympic AI Agenda has defined a strategic goal to leverage AI effectively across five key focus areas, including ensuring equal access to the benefits of AI.
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