Olympic Athletes turned Content Creators
How Social Media Changed the Olympics
by Sophia Blair
Every four years, the Olympics sees a new version of humankind, and the 2024 Paris Summer Olympics saw us at our most connected state in history: social media, TikTok in particular, became a part of the Games.
The Olympic games have a rich history, originating in Greece in 776 BC, some say to honor the Greek God, Zeus. The iconic five Olympic rings represent unity and equality among the five continents—Africa, the Americas, Asia, Europe, and Oceania. The first Olympics were more than a competition; they were a peaceful conduit in a period marked by conflicts among city-states. For a brief moment, people from differing belief systems came together to engage in friendly competition and sportsmanship.
Today, centuries later, the same sentiment is echoed. The 2024 Summer Olympic Games in Paris, France, brought together around 10,500 athletes competing from 206 National Olympic Committees. The flame that burned throughout the games as a tribute to the Goddess Hestia centuries ago still burns throughout the games today.
But the digital age has allowed us to form completely unprecedented parasocial relationships with these Olympic athletes. When insight into the games was limited only to TV, newspapers, magazines, and radio, Olympians were revered as untouchable superhumans. A few athletes would be spotlit as superstars.
Now, Olympic athletes can leverage social media to build a brand and a fanbase because of their personalities, and seem more ‘real.’ They could connect directly with their fans and control their own narrative. And their fans became active participants in the Games, too, by creating and sharing their Olympic experience, adding diversity and authenticity to coverage.
The International Olympic Committee created new media rules for the athletes this year: athletes may take photographs and/or record audio/video both inside and outside accredited areas such as the Olympic Village and competition venues, and post audio/video up to one hour before competitions start, giving fans an inside look at the opening and closing ceremonies, training venues, practice areas, and competition venues.
Moments after winning the Gold Medal in the Women’s Artistic Team All-Around, the USA Women’s Gymnastics team immediately filmed a TikTok, using a popular sound. The video garnered over 138 million views.
More people tuned into the games on social platforms, rather than watching them live, according to Maverix Research and Insight, which reported that social video accounted for 62.2% of watch time during the 2024 Olympics.
Through “fit checks” and “Get Ready With Me” videos, we got a behind-the-scenes look into life in the Olympic Village. Some TikTokers even lamented about having FOMO; the Olympic Village seems like a false reality where Snoop Dawg and Simone Biles are trading pins and the chocolate muffins are to die for.
While social media brought many positives, it also exposed athletes to cyberbullying, like the Australian breakdancer, RayGun, who got zero points for her lackluster routine and became an online joke. In fact, the media was found to be one of four major sources of stress for Olympic athletes, according to a survey of Winter Olympians published by the Journal of Sports Sciences.
Social media allows us to experience coverage from the perspective of people from other countries, instead of just America’s athletes, as Norwegian swimmer Henrik Christiansen became well known for his love of those Village chocolate muffins, we all know about the impressive sweater that British diver Tom Daley knitted, and the “aura” of South Korean pistol shooter Kim Ye-ji and Turkish shooter Yusuf Dikec became legendary.
We were finally able to globally connect over this global event.
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