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 Alain Berthoz

The year of the Olympic Games is an opportunity for France, in addition to its athletes and technologies linked to sport or disability compensation, to promote the existence of a highly interdisciplinary scientific field " Les Sciences du Mouvement ". There is a long-standing partnership between sport and this field. This is reflected, for example, by the existence of numerous research laboratories in the STAPS field, but also at the CNRS and other national research organizations (Inserm, Inria, CEA, etc.). Over thecourse of the year 2024, several scientific events will be organized on this theme.

The Collège de France has a long tradition of chairs dedicated to movement, dating back to the famous chair held by Étienne-Jules Marey, who was followed by numerous biomechanists such as Étienne Œhmichen, and physiologists such as Alain Berthoz. The Collège de France also has a long tradition of studying movement from the origins of man, with paleoanthropologists such as Yves Coppens and his collaborators.

In 2024, the Collège de France is organizing a number of activities around the Olympic Games, in particular a two-day colloquium onJuly1 and 2 2024. Its title is " Human movement from the origins to the Olympics ". It is organized as part of the annual colloquium of the Palaeoanthropologiechair held by Prof. Jean-Jacques Hublin and honorary Prof. Alain Berthoz (former holder of the Physiology of Perception and Actionchair at the Collège de France), both members of the Académie des Sciences.

Theaim of this symposium is to place the sciences of movement in their " temps long "framework, i.e. evolution, by placing high-level sporting activities and the modern approach to the sciences of movement, as a kind of current culmination of a long evolutionary process. This is highly innovative compared to approaches that focus more on historical, social and economic aspects, which will be addressed in a separate conference cycle.

The colloquium will take place in the Marguerite de Navarre amphitheatre at the Collège de France (500 seats) and will be open to the general public free of charge. It has been organized in cooperation with Mr. Patrick Roult (head of the high-level sports department at INSEP), and Pr Vincent Nougier, director of the CNRS GDR sport et activité physique.

The first day will focus on the evolution of locomotion and walking in primates through to modern man. Paleontologists and world-renowned experts will present techniques for analyzing physical activity in humans of the past, and in particular the mechanisms of walking and running. The second day will begin with an overview of selected knowledge relating to the neural bases, biomechanical and mathematical models of human movement. Examples of scientific research carried out by sports science teams at CNRS, INRIA, INSEP, INSERM and various universities will then be discussed. The contributions of the various teams are designed to reflect the regional distribution of this scientific field.

Organized with the support of the Institut supérieur de rééducation psychomotrice.

Program