Tokyo 2020 Influencer Olympics
The Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games well and truly delivered! Broken world records, icons made, national heroes immortalised, medal hauls secured, and athletes’ social media followings skyrocketed.
Spectators couldn’t attend any of the events due to COVID-19 restrictions in Tokyo, but that didn’t stop 36.4 million people worldwide from tuning in to watch the sporting festivities on the BBC channels [1].
Given the impressive viewing figures and infinite stand-out moments, it is not surprising that athletes’ social media followings have rapidly grown! We measured the social media following of the top ten athletes before and after the Games to explore if their followings had increased or decreased due to their performances in Tokyo.
Here are how things shaped on social before the Games:
Let’s go ahead, jump in and take a look at the individual athletes!
Social media increase based on the combination of the Twitter and Instagram following of each individual athlete.
10) Teddy Riner
Nationality: France | Sport: Judo | Medal haul: 1 bronze
Social media increase: 7%
Tokyo 2020 Highlights:
- Teddy Riner needed less than two minutes in the Elimination Round of 32 to beat Hegyi Stephen and advance to the medal bouts.
- Riner bounced back from a shock defeat to secure a bronze medal that matched his performances at Rio 2016.
- Riner’s bronze became the fourth successive time that he has won a medal at an Olympic Games.
9) Laura Kenny
Nationality: Great Britain | Sport: Track Cycling | Medal haul: 1 gold and 1 silver
Social media increase: 9%
Tokyo Highlights:
- Kenny became one of GB’s most decorated female athletes.
- The most successful female cyclist also became the only woman to earn a gold medal at three consecutive Olympic Games.
- Kenny and her teammate Katie Archibald won the first-ever Olympic title in the Madison race, as the event debuted in Tokyo.
8) Joshua Cheptegei
Nationality: Uganda | Sport: Athletics | Medal haul: 1 gold and 1 silver
Social media increase: 11%
Tokyo 2020 Highlights:
- Cheptegei continued his dominance in endurance running from his world record-breaking 2020 by securing two of the highest honours.
- He started by winning a silver in the 5000m race before going one better and winning a gold medal in the 10000m event.
- The Ugandan distance runner finished the Olympics with his world record times across the 5000m (12:35.36) and 10000m (26:11:00) events still intact.
7) Carissa Moore
Nationality: USA | Sport: Surfing | Medal haul: 1 gold
Social media increase: 15%
Tokyo 2020 Highlights:
- Carissa Moore became the first woman to win Olympic gold in surfing as the event made its debut in Tokyo.
- Moore top-scored in the final with a combined score of 14.93, based on various factors from a degree of difficulty to run speed.
- She became one of the most successful surfers in history as she added the Olympic title to her existing four world tour titles.
6) Adam Peaty
Nationality: Great Britain | Sport: Swimming | Medal haul: 2 gold and 1 silver
Social media increase: 19%
Tokyo 2020 Highlights:
- Adam Peaty continued his and GB’s rise to prominence in the pool by winning gold in the Men’s 100m Breaststroke and 4 x 100m Mixed Medley Relay.
- Peaty became the first British swimmer to defend and retain an Olympic title.
- He was also part of the GB team that secured a silver in Men’s 4 x 100m Medley Relay.
5) Noah Lyles
Nationality: USA | Sport: Athletics | Medal haul: 1 bronze
Social media increase: 26%
Tokyo 2020 Highlights:
- Noah Lyles recovered from uncharacteristic slower times in the heats to qualify for the Men’s 200m final.
- Lyles qualified as the fastest loser in the Men’s 200m semi-final, but still managed to secure bronze in the final.
- He also bravely spoke out after his event about his struggles with mental health leading up to the Olympic Games.
4) Sandra Sánchez
Nationality: Spain | Sport: Karate | Medal haul: 1 gold
Social media increase: 30%
Tokyo 2020 Highlights:
- Sandra Sánchez won the first-ever gold medal in karate at an Olympic Games.
- Sánchez became her country’s oldest Olympic champion at the age of 39.
- She celebrated her wedding anniversary with her coach and husband on the same day she won gold in the women’s kata.
3) Katie Ledecky
Nationality: USA | Sport: Swimming | Medal haul: 2 golds and 2 silvers
Social media increase: 32%
Tokyo 2020 Highlights:
- Katie Ledecky won gold in the 800m freestyle race for the third successive Olympic games.
- Ledecky became the first woman to contest the 1500m freestyle and won a gold medal.
- She swam a total of 6,200 metres over the course of a week and across five swimming events. This has never been attempted before in an Olympic programme.
2) Simone Biles
Nationality: USA | Sport: Gymnastics | Medal haul: 1 bronze
Social media increase: 54%
Tokyo 2020 Highlights:
- Simone Biles was the only female gymnast to qualify for all of the individual finals at Tokyo 2020.
- Despite withdrawing from all-around individual and team finals, Biles continued to support and cheer on her teammates in their respective events.
- She also received overwhelming support from fellow sports personalities, her coaches and many more after prioritising her mental health over competing in specific final events.
1) Caleb Dressel
Nationality: USA | Sport: Swimming | Medal haul: 5 golds
Social media increase: 123%
Tokyo 2020 Highlights:
- Caleb Dressel broke the world record in the 100m freestyle and 100m butterfly and an Olympic record in the 50m freestyle event.
- Dressel joined an exclusive club with fellow American swimmers Spitz and Phelps to secure a minimum of three individual golds at a single Olympic Games.
- He also became only the fifth swimmer in the history of the Olympics to win five golds at an individual Olympic Games.
Here are how things finished up on social after the Olympic Games:
The appreciation of greatness on social
We wanted to examine the relationship between a current sporting event and an athlete’s social media followings to explore whether athletes’ on-field endeavours affected their offline performance.
The social media increases on the athlete’s accounts above illustrate that win, lose or draw people are attracted to the level of commitment that Olympians display to reach the top of their respective sports.
The increases also demonstrate that people are naturally drawn to follow athletes as a sign of appreciation and respect for their journey of exploring the limits of human potential – especially in a different 18 months throughout the global pandemic.
Like us, we are sure you are glad to see the return of live sport this summer, and we encourage you to watch space as we explore other relationships between sport and marketing in the future.
For now, enjoy the Paralympics and the return of the Premier League!
References
[1] BBC’s Olympic peak viewing figures fall by half when compared to Rio 2016 (telegraph.co.uk)
