Ah yes, the Olympics. The one time every four years where swimming and other sports get the attention that they deserve. Many fans took to Twitter this Olympics, tweeting about the excitement, emotional ups and downs, upsets, and scandals that came along with it all. Below is a summary of the 2016 Olympics through Twitter data.
Most Mentioned Athletes
If there was an Olympic event for the number of times an athlete was mentioned on Twitter, Michael Phelps would have yet another gold medal to add to his collection. Michael Phelps phenomenal performance at his last Olympics definitely got the attention it deserved, earning Phelps the title of most mentioned athlete on Twitter at the Olympics. He was followed by track athlete Usain Bolt, who swept the 100, 200, and 4×100 for the third-straight Olympics; and Brazilian soccer player Neymar, who played the hero and scored the deciding penalty kick to propel the host nation to gold.
Most Mentioned Events
With all of the upsets in this year’s Olympic swimming competition, it’s no surprise that fans flocked to Twitter to express their feelings about the results. Swimming was the number one most mentioned event during the Rio 2016 Olympics, followed by Football/Soccer and Track & Field.
Top 3 Moments
Fans took to twitter each and every day of the Olympics, being sure to tweet about all of the most exciting events. Neymar’s winning penalty kick for Brazil in the gold medal soccer game took both first and third place for the most tweeted moments during the Olympics, #1 being Neymar’s game winning penalty kick in the gold medal game, and #3 being his goal that put Brazil up 1-0 versus Germany in the same game. Usain Bolt’s third straight gold medal in the 100 m dash finished second.
He was the main event at the Olympics. Bolt and track and field as a whole wasn’t as big this time around. The phelps retirement tour completely outshines the Bolt retirement tour.
I’m actually somewhat surprised that Lochte wasn’t one of the top 3. With all the back and forth controversy dominating headlines for days, I expected he would rank higher. Do they only include mentions for positive, or strictly competition-based things?
Phelps #socialmedia Ownage <3.
What are the gymnast Simone Biles, women in the US like Gymnastics a lot.
NBC was pushing Bolt more than Phelps so Michael’s tweet numbers surprised me but felt genuinely glad to see it.
NBC may control the Olympics, but thankfully it does not control the world. Nobody outside US watched NBC Olympics crap (well, except for that one Ryan Lochte Billy Bush interview).
Phelps was amazing to watch but that kick by Neymar was incredible to watch especially after the humiliation from the last World Cup
Accurate. Whenever Phelps was swimming my timeline was filled with Phelps tweets. I also think the #Phelpsface thing blew up to lol. I’m happy to see swimming ranking so high. Michael has done A LOT for the sport. And speaking for myself and many others, if it wasn’t for him I don’t think I would be interested in the sport in the 1st place.
Whatever I know about this sport is because of Michael !
Because he is frankly incredible