- The Canada Olympic House serves as a site to support and celebrate Canadian athletes, and Connect&GO’s RFID-enable wristband— worn by up to 20,000 individuals — will provide them with seamless access.
- The solution encompasses access for athletes, coaches, family, press and fans, while it enables contactless purchasing or authorization to food, beverages and merchandise.
At the Olympic Games in Paris this summer, Canadian athletes, coaches, members of the press and fans will be leveraging an RFID-enabled wristband for access, payments and VIP services at the Canada Olympic House. The system from Connect&GO, will be used to provide a more seamless experience for the nation’s Olympic participants and their followers, who have earned, or purchased, access to the venue.
The system is similar to one Connect&GO supplied Team Canada for the 2018 Pyeongchang Olympic Games. At that time the technology company provided over 10,000 bracelets that enabled access to the Canada House itself, specific areas and events within it, and contactless purchasing.
This year, it will produce approximately 20,000 bracelets, said Anthony Palermo, Connect&GO’s co-founder.
Paris Olympics
This is the third time the Olympic Games have been hosted by France’s capitol city— the other two times were in 1900 and 1924—and it will host 329 events across 32 sports.
Canada is sending 338 athletes to the games, 38 of whom have previously won medals. Canada earned 24 medals in Tokyo, including seven golds, seven silvers and 10 bronzes. That’s its highest number of wins at a non-boycotted Summer Games, and 11th among all countries competing.
Numerous countries with a large presence in Olympic games feature a “house” for their country that consists of a restricted zone of businesses and events.
The Canadian Olympic Committee will have a house for the first time since the 2018 Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang, offering a home away from home for Team Canada athletes and their families and fans. The Canada Olympic House, (COH) is located in La Cité des Sciences et de l’Industrie in Parc de la Villette, a Parisian landscaped park.
COH will offer viewing of the nation’s competitions, as well as events and athlete appearances, curated food and beverages, and live performances. Canada’s Olympic Network will be hosting portions of live Olympic Games coverage from COH as well.
Serving Canada Olympic House in South Korea
Connect&GO, based in Montreal, provides technology, mostly for water parks and amusement parks, around the world. The company’s relationship with the Canadian Olympic Committee started in 2017 when they created what was a unique experience for those who use the COH.
After serving the 2017 games, Connect&GO was preparing the technology for deployment at the Tokyo games in 2021 but the COVID pandemic restricted attendance. Therefore, the Paris Games are the first such Olympic event to use the system since South Korea.
Credentialing for those who are participants or ticket-holders entering the COH can be complex. Different individuals have varying levels of access based on their ticket or credentials.
And “there’s a level of security that is quite advanced and dynamic, as you can imagine—it’s not just free for all,” Palermo said. For instance, someone who bought a ticket will not have the same access and benefits as an athlete or coach or family member.
How it Works
The system consists of individualized ticketing, access control and cashless payments. Each individual who enters COH must have the HF 13.56 MHz RFID enabled wristband, compliant with ISO 14443.
Initially the individual’s credentials such as name, and role at the Olympics (such as participant or member of the press) are input to the Connect&GO software. The unique ID encoded on the wristband is connected to those details, events or times at which the wearer is authorized as well as payment information related to food, beverages and merchandise.
One of the features of the COH is to provide a special experience for the nation’s athletes, their families and their coaches. Therefore, a swimmer, runner or fencing participant may be offered specific benefits with the wristband that could include a certain amount of free food or merchandise.
For the other individuals who access the COH, there is a variety of access permission categories driven by a certain day, amount of time or event. As the wristband wearer enters the COH or a venue within it, or makes a vendor transaction, they tap their wristband against the RFID reader. The tag ID is captured by Connect&GO’s software and the user is approved for that transaction, or not, based on their allocated access.
The system includes e-commerce such as online merchandise purchasing.
Dozens of RFID Readers
The interrogators in use include reader devices that plug into a smartphone or tablet’s USB port so that individuals can tap a wristband for registration information or specific event access. The system app then displays the details for that individual.
While in the 2017 Olympics Connect&GO offered a system that integrated with the existing point of sale and ticketing providers, this year the entire software platform is managed by Connect&GO.
That means the full guest experience—from registration to e-commerce purchasing, to on-site food and beverage purchasing and access control— leverages just one platform that handles all touch points.
Enabling Events Management Features
Additionally, the system can be used for events management. For instance, if they chose to use the system this way, COH management could program alerts based on minimum and maximum attendance. The technology is able to identify trends related to who visits what sites, and enable users to respond, such as offering incentives to bring more people to a specific event.
“The system is dynamic enough to set alerts and to automate a lot of the things that allow you to make better decisions in real time,” Palermo said.
The system enables management of the press and reporters and photographers who arrive to cover the competition and related events. Typically, a media company would request access, and those who are accepted receive passes for specific individuals such as one photographer and one reporter, by name.
Creating Olympics Memories
Each of those individuals could be assigned to specific events such as press conferences on scheduled times and days. That access information would be linked to their wristband so that the authorized individual would only be admitted for those related events, and they would leave following the conference.
“Everyone has to have a wearable to get in. Everyone has to be approved, everyone has to have the credentials,” said Palermo.
At the end of the Olympic Games, those who were part of the COH experience can take home a wristband that serves as a keepsake to indicate they were at the historic event.
“I think that is also part of the experience: a memory to hold onto,” Palermo said.