Olympic athletes are unique in their own right, but there’s one area where they are just like us: Social media.
Especially since many are Millennials — the average age of Team USA athletes is 27 — they frequently post training updates, interact with fans and share photos. But when they get to Rio de Janeiro, they plan on different approaches to engaging on social media — at least until they’re done competing.
“There’s a time and a place (for social media), and for me, it’s going to be after the competition is done,” said fencer Jason Pryor (Instagram: @pryorsixty8). “The worst thing you can do is to really get swept up in a lot of the media and a lot of the outlying stuff about the Olympics when it’s really about the competition. So once I get to Rio, I’m going to be in blackout mode until after I compete. I’m going to go to (opening) ceremonies, and after that, I’m going to shut myself off in the village.”
While some will avoid social media altogether, there are still plenty of athletes who will be active but not as frequently as usual.
Olympic swimmer Kelsi Worrell (Instagram/Twitter: @kelsiwhirl) said although she’ll likely post a couple photos of new friends, social media is a “really big distraction,” and she’ll disconnect when it gets close to race time. Rhythmic gymnast Laura Zeng(Instagram: @toss_and_catch) — one of several who feel the same way — said aside from occasional use, she’ll be focusing on herself.
“I think I’ll be interacting a little bit,” WNBA player and first-time Olympian Elena Delle Donne (Instagram/Twitter: @De11eDonne) said. “It probably won’t be too much because I’ll be pretty busy, but I’ll try to share some of the experience with my fans.”
And then there are athletes, like boxer Shakur Stevenson (Instagram/Twitter: @ShakurStevenson) — one of the youngest members of Team USA at 19 — who are on social media all the time and won’t change their habits. Stevenson said even in the moments leading up to his fights, he’s always on his phone and doesn’t see it as a distraction.
But athletes just can’t post whatever they want. The International Olympic Committeehas outlined specific guidelines for Games participants, including athletes, coaches and officials. While they can post photos taken within the Olympic venues on social media, audio and video content must be pre-approved by the IOC before going online. Under the IOC’s Rule 40, athletes who have non-Olympic sponsors are not allowed to tweet about them directly during the Games.
They must also receive permission to use the Olympic symbol and other properties, including Rio 2016 emblems, in social and digital media posts and must be careful any advertising or endorsements on social media don’t imply an IOC association with the product.
During the 2012 London Olympics, social media was booming, and Twitter reported having more than 150 million Tweets about the Games in a 16-day period, both from athletes and with mentions of them. The single biggest moment was when Jamaican runner Usain Bolt won gold in the 200-meter dash with more than 80,000 Tweets per minute, according to Twitter.
In addition to Bolt — the most talked about athlete on Twitter during the London Games — Michael Phelps, Gabby Douglas and LeBron James were among the most popular athletes with more than 1 million mentions each.
Because of the messages she sent and received from her fans in London, three-time beach volleyball Olympic gold medalist Kerri Walsh Jennings (Instagram/Twitter: @kerrileewalsh) said being on social media this time is a no-brainer.
“(In London) I really engaged in social media — not over the top but just what felt natural and I loved it,” Walsh Jennings said. “It was such a source of inspiration and perspective because when you’re in the Olympics, you’re in such a bubble and 99.99 percent of what I read on my feeds is really, really positive. So I use that as a big source to fill up my fuel tank, so I will certainly be on it (in Rio). It’s just the way the world is these days.”
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