Today on Twitter

Tuesday, 31 July 2012

Did you know that since the Games started, there have been 1.2 million uses of the phrase ‘good luck’ on Twitter?

Every day of the Olympics people from all walks of life are coming together to get behind their country’s team with messages of support and encouragement.

We’ve already seen 10 million mentions of the term Olympics during the Games as fans use Twitter to get to the heart of the action.

One of last night’s highlights for @TeamGB came as they scooped the bronze medal in the men’s gymnastics team final, our first medal in this event in 100 years. 

They also took a moment to share their bronze medal with family members today:

Amongst the many messages of congratulations the British men’s gymnastics team received on Twitter, this one from US movie legend Samuel L Jackson (@SamuelLJackson) must have been a highlight:

The @TeamGB women’s volleyball team also got the seal of approval from tinsel town, with actor Ewan McGregor (@mcgregor_ewan) tweeting his support last night:

Medal success continued today with silver for @TeamGB’s eventing team at Greenwich Park, where Zara Philips made history as the first member of the Royal family to win an Olympic medal.
Her teammate William Fox-Pitt (@foxpitteventing) tweeted this great picture of people cheering the team on, despite the British weather:

However, it was 51-year-old Mary King who captured the imagination of BBC commentators Denise Lewis (@RealDeniseLewis) and Clare Balding (@ClareBalding) as they praised her comeback from injury:

In fact, the BBC has seen widespread praise of its coverage of the Games, with music star Gary Barlow (@GaryBarlow) tweeting this message last night:

It’s not just the athletes who are attracting goodwill this week. Rower @ZacPurchase tweeted this snap of the armed forces welcoming him to Eton Dorney this morning:

There was also success over in SW19 for @andy_murray, who beat Finland’s Jarkko Nieminen to reach the third round at Wimbledon. @BritishTennis tweeted this great picture:

Whilst the Games can be an occasion for great celebration, they can also be a time of the deepest heartbreak for some athletes. Our hearts went out to @Euan_Burton today in the under-81kg judo event today as he lost his first contest to Canadian Antoine Valois-Fortier. On what must have been an incredibly difficult day, he took to Twitter to thank his fans for their support:

It was disappointment too for swimmer @LiamTancock as he missed out on a medal in the 100m backstroke, finishing fifth in the final last night. He tweeted his thanks to his army of followers:

And whilst his defeat in the men’s road cycling team left him devastated earlier in the week, @MarkCavendish announced his return to the Games today on Twitter – this time as a presenter. We look forward to hearing his insight into the competitive world of track cycling:

Finally today, you may have noticed that the tagline for London 2012 is ‘Inspire a Generation’. It was Sir Chris Hoy’s (@chrishoy) Tweet that reminded us of the thousands of young people across the UK backing @TeamGB this summer:

The action is set to continue tomorrow and here’s who to watch to get closer than ever to the action: