The Paralympics on Twitter

With tickets selling out at the box office and the Games in full flow, we took a look at how Twitter is being used during the 2012 Paralympics.

The top five most followed GB Paralympic athletes of the Games (in order) so far are:

• Ellie Symonds (@EllieSimmonds1)
• Jonnie Peacock (@JonniePeacock)
• David Weir (@davidweir2012)
• Sarah Storey (@MrsSarahStorey)
• Will Bayley (@WillBayleytt)

Of these, the GB Paralympic athlete who has seen the biggest increase in followers since the Games began is sprinter Jonnie Peacock (@JonniePeacock), whose follower numbers have gone up more than 500%.

There have been more than 180,000 mentions of these athletes on Twitter since the Paralympics began, and the peak in conversation about them came on Thursday 6 September as Jonnie Peacock won gold in the T44 100m sprint final.

Here’s a great photo of the moment he won gold:

After his victory Jonnie took to Twitter and retweeted this great picture:

He also shared this great snap of a well-deserved McDonald’s!

Admiration for Paralympic athletes from their Olympic counterparts have flooded Twitter, including this message from 100m Olympic gold medalist Usain Bolt (@usainbolt):

Diver Tom Daley (@TomDaley1994) also shared his support:

With the final events and the Closing Ceremony taking place this weekend, make sure you stay tuned to Twitter for a unique perspective of these extraordinary events.