Today on Twitter

Saturday, 28 July 2012

The first 24 hours of the Olympic Games has well and truly gripped the nation with 27 million of us tuning in for the opening ceremony last night.

Here at Twitter, we saw a worldwide total of 9.66 million mentions of the Opening Ceremony from the start at 8pm last night until the end of its broadcast in the US as people across the globe took to Twitter to get closer to the action.

And it was Tim Berners-Lee (@timberners_lee), founder of the web, who set Twitter alive as he live-tweeted from the stage of the opening ceremony, generating almost 10,000 retweets of his message:

It was from one legend to another as Paul McCartney (@PaulMcCartney) shared this behind-the-scenes image with his followers shortly before playing the ceremony out with Hey Jude:

Stars shared their views on the ceremony on Twitter, and footballer Rio Ferdinand (@rioferdy5) was impressed by Danny Boyle’s representation of multicultural Britain:

However, it was the Queen’s cameo that captured the imagination of presenter @GaryLineker, who tweeted this morning:

For those who missed the Ceremony, the @London2012 team tweeted the moment her Majesty appeared to parachute into the ceremony from a helicopter. You really don’t see that every day!

As the stadium filled with athletes from around the globe, many took to Twitter to share their excitement. @TeamGB swimmer Rebecca Adlington (@BeckAdlington) told her followers:

And it was Olympic cyclist Sir Chris Hoy (@chrishoy) who had the honour of leading @TeamGB into the stadium:

With the opening ceremony over, @TeamGB athletes were treated to another surprise this morning as the Queen visited them at the Olympic village. @TeamGB hockey player Beth Storry (@Bethstorry) shared this amazing photo:

Aside from a Royal visit, excitement built as Mark Cavendish (@MarkCavendish), Bradley Wiggins (@bradwiggins) and the rest of the @TeamGB men’s road cycling team geared up for their big day, with well-wishes flooding in:

However it was not to be, and Bradley Wiggins (@bradwiggins) took to Twitter and captured the nation’s feelings in a few short words:

What a start, we can’t wait to see what tomorrow has in store. Make sure you follow these @TeamGB athletes on Twitter to get closer to the action on Sunday: