The London 2012 Olympic games were billed as “the Social Olympics”. That was mostly because of the high rate of social media use in the community, but also because the athletes themselves were tweeting and Facebooking while in London. But what exactly was popular during the Games? EFTM has some interesting data from Facebook showing exactly who and what was talked about…
Rather unsurprisingly, Usain Bolt dominated the discussion in most countries. Bolt’s gold medals in the 100m and 200m might have only lasted a few seconds, but the man himself generated huge talk on Facebook.
In Australia, he was the most discussed athlete ahead of Sally Pearson and James Magnussen. Bolt was also the most discussed in France, the UK, Spain, Canada, Germany and Singapore. He featured in the top three most discussed athletes in New Zealand, Italy and Russia.
Matthew Mitcham, Emily Seebohm, Anna Meares and Christian Sprenger were the other Aussies in the top 10 athletes mentioned by Australians, joining international stars Kobe Bryant, Mo Farrah and Tom Daley.
At a glance, South Korea looks like the most parochial, with the top 10 athletes mentioned there not featuring any of these international superstars like Bolt or Phelps.
Globally, Usain Bolt topped the list, with the weight of the USA’s Facebook audience pushing Michael Phelps to second place globally, followed by US Dual Gold Medal winning Gymnast Gabby Douglas in third.
No-one can match Michael Phelps for pulling power though, he attracted an extra 747,300 fans during the games, even ahead of Usain Bolt’s 694,200.
Here’s a complete look at the most discussed athletes in each country:
| Australia | New Zealand | |
| 1) Usain Bolt | 1) Valerie Adams | |
| 2) Sally Pearson | 2) Usain Bolt | |
| 3) James Magnussen | 3) Lisa Carrington | |
| 4) Kobe Bryant | 4) Mahe Drysdale | |
| 5) Mo Farah | 5) Sarah Walker | |
| 6) Tom Daley | 6) Roger Federer | |
| 7) Matthew Mitcham | 7) Andy Murray | |
| 8) Emily Seebohm | 8) Sally Pearson | |
| 9) Anna Meares | 9) Tom Daley | |
| 10) Christian Sprenger | 10) Mo Farah | |
| South Korea | France | |
| 1) Park Tae-Hwan | 1) Usain Bolt | |
| 2) Im Dong-Hyun | 2) Teddy Riner | |
| 3) Park Chu-Young | 3) Christopher Lemaitre | |
| 4) Ki Sung-Yeung | 4) Yannick Agnel | |
| 5) Shin A-Lam | 5) Neymar | |
| 6) Kim Bo-Kyung | 6) Tony Parker | |
| 7) Kim Jae-Bum | 7) Michael Phelps | |
| 8) Lee Yong-Dae | 8) Camille Muffat | |
| 9) Koo Ja-Cheol | 9) Renaud Lavillenie | |
| 10) Ji Dong-Won | 10) Yohan Blake | |
| UK | Italy | |
| 1) Usain Bolt | 1) Neymar | |
| 2) Tom Daley | 2) Federica Pellegrini | |
| 3) Mo Farah | 3) Usain Bolt | |
| 4) Jessica Ennis | 4) Josefa Idem | |
| 5) Andy Murray | 5) Michael Phelps | |
| 6) Chris Hoy | 6) Clemente Russo | |
| 7) Bradley Wiggins | 7) Carlo Molfetta | |
| 8) Michael Phelps | 8) Vincenzo Mangiacapre | |
| 9) Roger Federer | 9) Mauro Sarmiento | |
| 10) Yohan Blake | 10) Valerio Aspromonte | |
| Spain | Germany | |
| 1) Usain Bolt | 1) Usain Bolt | |
| 2) Pau Gasol | 2) Neymar | |
| 3) Andrea Fuentes | 3) Michael Phelps | |
| 4) Neymar | 4) Roger Federer | |
| 5) Marc Gasol | 5) Julius Brink | |
| 6) Serge Ibaka | 6) Robert Harting | |
| 7) Mireia Belmonte | 7) Jonas Reckermann | |
| 8) David Cal | 8) Ryan Lochte | |
| 9) Juan Carlos Navarro | 9) Marcel Nguyen | |
| 10) Rudy Fernández | 10) LeBron James | |
| Canada | Russia | |
| 1) Usain Bolt | 1) Aliya Mustafina | |
| 2) Michael Phelps | 2) Usain Bolt | |
| 3) Ryan Lochte | 3) Viktoria Komova | |
| 4) Gabby Douglas | 4) Ivan Ukhov | |
| 5) Christine Sinclair | 5) Evgenia Kanaeva | |
| 6) Neymar | 6) Arsen Galstyan | |
| 7) Oscar Pistorius | 7) Anna Chicherova | |
| 8) Brent Hayden | 8) Maria Paseka | |
| 9) Andy Murray | 9) Ilya Zakharov | |
| 10) Yohan Blake | 10) Dmitriy Muserskiy | |
| Japan | Singapore | |
| 1) Kohei Uchimura | 1) Usain Bolt | |
| 2) Yoshie Takeshita | 2) Feng Tianwei | |
| 3) Tatsuhiro Yonemitsu | 3) Li Jiawei | |
| 4) Ryohei Kato | 4) Wang Yuegu | |
| 5) Kosuke Kitajima | 5) Michael Phelps | |
| 6) Koji Murofushi | (only five recorded) | |
| 7) Kasumi Ishikawa | ||
| 8) Ai Fukuhara | ||
| 9) Kosuke Hagino | ||
| 10) Satoshi Shimizu |
Top Mentioned Athletes & Moments – Olympics Overall
Global Athletes – all athletes, ranked by # of mentions for Olympics overall
Top Global Moments – Olympics overall
Top Athlete by Fan Growth – by # fans added – Global
Top Athlete by Fan Growth – by % growth – Global
Most Active Country – ranked by Talk Meter Scores
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