The 5 biggest Twitter moments of London 2012

It’s over. London 2012 drew to a close last night, having lived up to its bill as the first social games. Sure there were a few hiccoughs along the way but things generally went to plan.

People were especially active on Twitter, which saw more activity during the opening ceremony than the whole of Beijing 2008. People also took to the social network to cheer, dissect and discuss the performance of athletes. Here are the five moments that, according to Twitter, generated the most buzz.

1. Usain Bolt of Jamaica wins gold in the 200m sprint: 80 000+ Tweets Per Minute (TPM)

When Bolt won the 200 metres he became the first man ever to do the double double, winning both it and the 100 metre sprint in successive games. It also saw him head straight to the top of the Olympic Twitter rankings.

2. Bolt wins gold in the 100m sprint: 74 000+ TPM

If, for some reason, you’re still in doubt about the universal appeal of Usain Bolt, look no further than the fact that he takes up the top two positions on this list. Yes they are showpiece events, but all of those tweets sure as hell aren’t coming from Jamaica.

3. Andy Murray of Great Britain wins gold in the men’s tennis singles: 57 000+ TPM

Throughout Wimbledon, you’ll hear semi-frustrated cries of “Come on Andy” whenever Murray plays. He may never win the actual tournament, but the fact that he managed to beat Switzerland’s Roger Federer (the man he lost the Wimbledon 2012 final to) to win gold on Centre Court will stay in his country’s collective memory for some time to come.

4. Jamaica wins gold and sets the world record in the men’s 4×100 relay: 52 000+ TPM

Usain Bolt makes another cameo in the top five. The Jamaican relay team blitzed the 4X100 record in 36.84 seconds.

5. Team USA beats Spain to win gold in men’s basketball: 41 000+ TPM

This was a back and forth game, with the US’ supposed dream team leading by a single point at the end of the third quarter. In the end, the American only came out on top by seven points.

Bolt was, of course, the most talked about athlete, although nine others were tweeted about more than a million times each:

1. Usain Bolt (@UsainBolt)
2. Michael Phelps (@MichaelPhelps)
3. Tom Daley (@TomDaley1994)
4. Ryan Lochte (@ryanlochte)
5. Gabby Douglas (@gabrielledoug)
6. Andy Murray (@andy_murray)
7. Kobe Bryant (#GetKobeOnTwitter)
8. Yohan Blake (@YohanBlake)
9. Lee Chong Wei (@Lee_C_Wei)
10. LeBron James (@KingJames)

Interestingly, the most talked about sport was football, driving over five-million tweets. Other popular sports were the swimming events, the track & field (athletics) events, gymnastics, and volleyball.

Perhaps the real Twitter stars of the Olympic Games though were UK pop act The Spice Girls. Baby, Scary, Ginger, Posh, and Sporty generated 116 000 Tweets per minute during their Closing Ceremony Performance. So apparently that’s what Twitter really really really wants.