The university Twitter Olympic medalists

Written By Zoe Troughton

As the closing ceremony’s curtains fell and the medals were distributed, the nation began weaning themselves from their multiple screens. It is fair to say that the 2016 Olympics in Rio captivated not only the TV scheduling, but our daily routine, and of course, social media.

There was initial controversy and bad press over this year’s world tournament, including the outbreak of the Zika virus, being told by the officials that we weren’t allowed to Tweet and even worse, that we were prohibited from using Olympic GIFs. Shock horror. Yet with social media being social media who clothes itself in freedom of speech and GIFs, our timelines were, as expected, an array of educational, motivational and congratulational tweets, full of national pride.

With over 50% of Team GB’s gold medals achieved by current university students and alumni, a huge proportion of athletes competing attended a UK higher educational institution. As a result, in true BUCS fashion, the competition to establish which university was most proud and had the most Rio 2016 athletes began.

The Twitter University Olympics

Gold: Loughborough

Out of the total students involved in the Olympics, 22 were current or former students of Loughborough University in Leicestershire, and in total, they won more gold medals than any other UK University.

Adam Peaty, a current Loughborough student, took both Great Britain’s first gold medal of the tournament and smashed the world record – one he had previously set. Others featured in the athletics, rugby 7s, and rowing events, to name but a few, as well as 12 representatives on the hockey teams – enough for an entire team of their own plus a sub!

Not only did the University showcase their commitment to sporting excellence throughout the Olympics, but also in their use of social media. They regularly tweeted about the games using their own #Lboro2Rio hashtag, and also created a separate account for all Rio related news regarding their sensational athletes – @LboroRio2016. Here they featured all the latest daily news, updates, upcoming events and spotlight features. 

They also cleverly included the representative’s Twitter handle in attempt to engage the specific athletes, ultimately highlighting their ties with the University and if that wasn’t enough, they further created a #LboroLegends hashtag with messages of support from famous alumni athletes such as Paula Radcliffe via short interviews and videos.

In addition to this Twitter activity, they also created a series of videos that were uploaded to their Rio2016 playlist on YouTube, with interviews and behind the scenes footage of their athletes. 

Loughborough have really used the opportunity to highlight the sporting calibre of their students and alumni, further positioning themselves as an incredibly successful sporting university.

Silver: Leeds Beckett

With an impressive 15 alumni athletes representing at Rio, Leeds Beckett University again took to social media to encourage, support and congratulate their athletes.

Their 15 olympic representatives participated in a range of events from diving, race walking, rugby 7s, both men’s and women’s hockey, as well as track events, badminton and triathlon, where student Alistair Brownlee secured the first ever two-time Olympic triathlon gold, having also previously won gold at London 2012. As well as alumni, they also had staff involved in the training and coaching of the olympic athletes, and accordingly showed as much support for their participation and hard work in the games.

With their hashtag #BeckettRio16 following all their olympic related tweets, those on the social media platform were able to follow the success of these former students throughout the tournament in an array of blog posts, tweets and GIFs.

As the Olympics came to a close, the university turned a building on their campus gold in honour in recognition of their two gold medalists in hockey and triathlon – a great way to honour the sporting success of their alumni.

Bronze: Nottingham University

With 10 alumni involved in this year’s Olympics, Nottingham University have taken our bronze medal for their use of social media in support of their athletes, more specifically those in charge of their alumni and sports accounts.

Whilst they used the official Rio hashtags, they missed the opportunity to create a hashtag of their own which would have would’ve helped the University community come together, and would have made it easier for those interested to follow their progress. However, the two accounts really captured their support towards their sporting stars, often using the hashtag #proud, and also making use of a dedicated Rio2016 blog.

The blog, which was promoted continuously on Twitter was updated with stories and quotes from the athletes, updating the journey of each as the Olympics continued. It also included advice from their university experts on how to safe travelling abroad, how to stay hydrated and other interesting topics relating the Olympics in Rio with Nottingham University.

With events such as badminton, hockey, canoe slalom and rugby 7s to name a few, the accounts covered their students’ journeys, reminding followers of their events, congratulating, retweeting official accounts and tweets from the sports-stars themselves, and regularly updating their blog.

With many other universities celebrating their student and alumni sports-stars on social media, it has been an exciting endurance month of olympic activity. How will the 2020 Olympics compare?

If you have a great opportunity coming up and want to make the most of it on social media, you know where to find us.

Zoe Troughton
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