In collaboration with the Federal Rural University of Rio de Janeiro (UFRRJ), a system monitoring doping discussion on social media has been set up.

This will impact the COB's anti-doping education platform and, it is claimed, result in athletes being exposed to information which is more relevant and effective.

"This will feed the platform's artificial intelligence system, which will suggest educational content to its users based on the most relevant topics discussed on social networks," COB doping-prevention manager Christian Trajano said.

"This feature is important to bring quality information to users of the COB system and the Brazilian Olympic community. 

"The system autonomously monitors what is said on the networks; thus, we can provide platform users with adequate knowledge on the top trending subject, validated by the COB."

The UFRRJ's department of computer science is letting its AI and data-mining capabilities be put to the test in the project.

Keywords are put in manually at present, with the COB saying here are more than 400 registered, but in the future AI and data analysis will be used instead of user-defined keywords.

"One usability is to understand the behavior of groups and their relationships regarding the use of prohibited substances," Filipe Braida, a UFRRJ professor, insisted.

"In this way, we can make more assertive campaigns to promote knowledge about the risks and consequences of doping in sports. 

"Understanding how people see and use prohibited substances can help in decision-making in education and doping-prevention actions for athletes and all sports community."