Paris Olympics – The top ten social moments in numbers

New data from SAMY Alliance, the fast-growing, social-first agency group, has revealed the ‘Top 10 Social Media Moments Of The Olympic Games’, as ‘The Summer of Sport’ draws to a close.

US gymnastics sensation and Olympic GOAT (Greatest Of All Time) Simone Biles came out on top again. The moment that she and fellow American, Jordan Chiles, bowed to Rebecca Andrade after the latter won gold in the Floor Exercise, was the most talked about social media moment of the games with even Barack Obama getting involved in the conversation.

Biles picked up social media silver with her record breaking gold in the All Round, ranking second in SAMY Alliance’s ‘Top 10 Social Media Moments Of The Olympic Games’. Shooter Yusuf Dekic completed the social media podium after turning up at the 10m air pistol with little to no specialist equipment, looking like “a hitman”.

Top 10 Social Media Moments Of The Olympic Games

Position in terms of volume of social conversation	Social Media Moments Of The Olympic Games	Number of Social Media Posts – monitored for 48 hours after each moment happened	Sentiment
1	Simone Biles and Jordan Chiles bow to gold medalist Rebecca Andrade	365,400 (across X, Facebook, Instagram)	52.93% of posts were “positive”
2	Simone Biles wins gold in all-round to reach record haul	171,000	50.46% of posts were “positive”
3	Yusuf Dekic wins silver in the 10m air pistol with no specialist equipment	132,000	36.75% of posts were “positive”
4	Noah Lyles wins gold in the 100m sprint via a photo finish	126,000	49.98% of posts were “positive”
5	Kim Ye-Ji turns up to the 10m air pistol in style	46,500	28.78% of posts were “positive”
6	Snoop Dogg steals the show at The Olympic Dressage in full-kit	37,600	18.5% of posts were “positive”
7	Cole Hocker’s surprise 1500m gold medal performance	36,700	49.88% of posts were “positive”
8	Léon Marchand achieves his 2nd gold of the day in the 200m breaststroke following 200m butterfly glory	16,600	57.64% of posts were “positive”
9	Anthony Ammirati faces pole vault elimination as a result of his ‘large package’	9,710	28.59% of posts were “positive”
10	George Mills confronts Hugo Hay after 5000m collision	3,640	33.86% of posts were “positive”

SAMY Alliance number crunchers and sport experts at Capture Intelligence identified a long list of Olympics highlights over the course of the Paris games by analysing traditional media coverage and Google Trends data. For each highlight we then measured the volume of social media chatter (English language only) to come up with our very own ranking of the top ten Olympics moments that best capture the online zeitgeist.

It wasn’t just individual sporting success that caught the attention of social media users. Rapper and Martha Stewart’s BFF Snoop Dogg “dropped it like it’s hot”, turning up in full dressage kit at the equestrian, getting social media talking; though perhaps not in a good way, with fewer than 20% of posts being “positive” around Snoop’s attire.

And spare a thought for Anthony Ammirati and his exit from the pole vault – his manhood sparked a social media frenzy when it denied him gold.

Paula Irigaray, our Research and Insights Director, commented on the findings: “Much of the build up to the Olympics was a bit flat compared to previous years, with a lot of talk around how the Games was failing to resonate with younger audiences. However, once the event started, it soon started to generate social media gold!

“This was mainly due to the Games creating “moments” that transcend sport, and have an impact on the social and cultural zeitgeist and get people talking. Some are funny, some are moving, and some represent the pinnacle of sport and many will live on in the collective global memory.

“Social listening and data analysis of conversations online, gives us real clarity on the moments that cut through on social media platforms. The Olympics play out both in the real world and online and there is a subtle difference in the moments that take off and resonate in each arena.”

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