Cookie Policy

Last updated: 2 May 2026

This cookie policy explains how The AI-thletic (“we”, “us”, “our”) uses cookies and similar technologies on our website at theaithletic.com. Read it alongside our privacy policy, which explains how we handle the personal data we collect.

Who we are

The AI-thletic is a sports podcast and infographics website operated by Ram Gohil (sole trader), trading as The AI-thletic. For the purposes of UK data protection law, Ram Gohil is the data controller responsible for any personal data processed via this website.

You can contact us about cookies, data protection, or this policy at:

Email: theaithletic@gmail.com
Postal address: Postal address available on request via email

What cookies are

Cookies are small text files that websites place on your device when you visit them. They allow the website to recognise your device on subsequent visits and remember information about your preferences or behaviour. The same logic applies to similar technologies including pixels, web beacons, local storage, session storage, and device fingerprinting techniques. We refer to all of these collectively as “cookies” in this policy for simplicity.

Cookies are used for many things including: keeping you signed in, remembering your preferences, measuring website performance, embedding content from other services such as Spotify or Instagram, and (with your consent) analysing how visitors use our site.

Your choices and consent

When you first visit our website, you will see a consent banner asking you to choose which categories of cookies you accept. You have three clear options:

Accept all: permits all cookies described below, including analytics and marketing cookies.
Reject all: only strictly necessary cookies will be used. The site will function but we will not collect analytics or marketing data about your visit.
Manage preferences: lets you accept or reject each category of cookie individually.

You can change your choices at any time by clicking the “Cookie preferences” link in the footer of our website, or by clearing your cookies and revisiting the site.

We use Google Consent Mode v2, which means that when you reject analytics or marketing cookies, the relevant Google services receive consent signals indicating you have not consented, and behave accordingly (typically by not setting tracking cookies and using cookieless aggregated signals instead, where applicable).

The cookies we use

Our site uses cookies grouped into the following categories.

Name	Description	Duration
comment_author	Used to track the user across multiple sessions.	Session
comment_author_email	Used to track the user across multiple sessions.	Session
comment_author_url	Used to track the user across multiple sessions.	Session

Learn more

Name	Description	Duration
_gac_	Contains information related to marketing campaigns of the user. These are shared with Google AdWords / Google Ads when the Google Ads and Google Analytics accounts are linked together.	90 days
__utma	ID used to identify users and sessions	2 years after last activity
__utmt	Used to monitor number of Google Analytics server requests	10 minutes
__utmb	Used to distinguish new sessions and visits. This cookie is set when the GA.js javascript library is loaded and there is no existing __utmb cookie. The cookie is updated every time data is sent to the Google Analytics server.	30 minutes after last activity
__utmc	Used only with old Urchin versions of Google Analytics and not with GA.js. Was used to distinguish between new sessions and visits at the end of a session.	End of session (browser)
__utmz	Contains information about the traffic source or campaign that directed user to the website. The cookie is set when the GA.js javascript is loaded and updated when data is sent to the Google Anaytics server	6 months after last activity
__utmv	Contains custom information set by the web developer via the _setCustomVar method in Google Analytics. This cookie is updated every time new data is sent to the Google Analytics server.	2 years after last activity
__utmx	Used to determine whether a user is included in an A / B or Multivariate test.	18 months
_ga	ID used to identify users	2 years
_gali	Used by Google Analytics to determine which links on a page are being clicked	30 seconds
_ga_	ID used to identify users	2 years
_gid	ID used to identify users for 24 hours after last activity	24 hours
_gat	Used to monitor number of Google Analytics server requests when using Google Tag Manager	1 minute

Google Consent Mode v2

We have implemented Google Consent Mode v2 to ensure that Google services on our site (such as Google Analytics and any future Google advertising integrations) respect your consent choices. When you reject analytics or marketing cookies:

The relevant Google tags receive a “denied” signal for the corresponding storage type.
Google Analytics may still receive cookieless pings to provide basic, anonymised aggregated metrics. These pings do not identify individual users and are used only for modelling overall traffic.
No personally identifiable information is collected.

You can read more about how Google Consent Mode works in Google’s official documentation.

How to control cookies in your browser

You can also manage cookies directly through your browser settings. Each major browser provides options to view, delete or block cookies, including the ability to block all cookies or block cookies from specific sites. Be aware that blocking all cookies may affect website functionality.

Do Not Track signals

Some browsers offer a “Do Not Track” setting. There is no universal standard for how websites should respond to this signal. We respect your consent choices made through our cookie banner and do not currently treat the Do Not Track header as a separate consent signal. If a future industry standard emerges, we will update this policy.

Changes to this policy

We update this cookie policy when our practices change or when required by law. The “Last updated” date at the top of this page reflects the most recent change. For material changes (for example, adding a new category of cookie or a significant new third party), we will display a notice on the website and ask you to renew your consent if appropriate.

Questions or complaints

If you have questions about how we use cookies, please contact us at theaithletic@gmail.com.

If you believe we have processed your personal data in a way that breaches UK data protection law, you can complain to the UK Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO):

Website: ico.org.uk
Helpline: 0303 123 1113
Address: Information Commissioner’s Office, Wycliffe House, Water Lane, Wilmslow, Cheshire, SK9 5AF