Twitter saw more than 150 million tweets about the Olympic Games during the events. Statistics released today by the microblogging service shows sprinter Usain Bolt of Jamaica topping both the biggest moments of competition in terms of message volumes, as well as the list of most talked about athletes at the London 2012 games.
According to the service, Bolt’s win in the 200m final triggered 80,000 Twitter messages per minute, higher than the 74,000 attained after his 100m win and the 52,000 as part of the Jamaica 4x100m relay team. Andy Murray of Great Britain winning the men’s tennis singles final was the third most talked about moment at 57,000 messages, while Team USA beating Spain in the men’s basketball final reached 41,000 posts per minute.
Ten Olympians reached over 1 million mentions during the Games; Kobe Bryant, Michael Phelps, Kobe Bryant, and Tom Daley trailed the Jamaican sprinter, but all reached the milestone for the period.
Twitter received a significant amount of scrutiny during the events. British journalist Guy Adams was banned then reinstated to the messaging service following messages critical of NBC’s coverage, while one man was arrested and a teenager warned over malicious posts directed at British diver Tom Daley, with taunts referring to his late father.
