Are you here to Tweet or Compete?
The use of social media by athletes has always been a hot topic, as one slip up on Instagram or Twitter can cause a stream of negative press for a team, an athlete, or even a country. With the Rio 2016 Olympic Games fast approaching, athletes are preparing for the greatest competition of their lives and how they will handle the pressure — on the track and online. The Internet has become embedded in every aspect of our day-to-day lives, changing the way we interact with others. Social media allows friends, families and fans to reach out to Olympians, or a source of support for athletes when they are dealing with disappointment. However social media can also be a distraction; the perils it can pose to an Olympian at a time when intense focus should prevail.
In bygone years, elite athletes lived in an Olympic bubble that stretched from the Olympic Village (OLV) to their sporting venue. The bubble still exists, but now there is an Internet cable that connects that bubble to the world via social media platforms, i.e. Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat and Twitter.
Two Australian Olympic gold medallists, Anna Meares and Sally Person swear by their decisions to turn off all social media accounts on arrival at the OLV. During the regular season, Canadian track and field athlete Justyn Warner shares lots of training and recovery moments on his #RoadtoRio but will turns his social media into a one-way street come Games time, “I do social media blackouts before nationals every year and then I will before Rio. I will post footage but I don’t read or reply to comments.”
NBA superstar LeBron James is no novice to the social media “black out”, James has been turning off his online account during the NBA playoffs since 2010 — the year Zero Dark Thirty, the movie about Navy SEALs’ hunt for Osama bin Laden was released — and he has never won a championship without it. Whether it is to mitigate distraction, or if it has not become superstition, it seems to be working the for the Basketball megastar (who wears no. 23).
While negative public feedback such as online bullying and trolling can certainly fuel unhelpful emotions, some athletes have found out the hard way that positive online reinforcement can also disrupt performance.
In 2012, swimming silver medallist Emily Seebohm conceded her love of social media may have cost her gold, saying the influx of encouragement following her super-fast 100m backstroke heat almost had her believing she had won her final before she’d even swum it.
Chief Technology Director for Diving Canada, Mitch Geller argued that, “On one hand it’s a bit of a distraction from the pressures and the demands and the chaos. The other it can become a little too distraction. They’re [Athletes] competing to see who gets more followers… others are finding it overwhelming.”
With Rio 2016 set to be the most social Olympics yet, Australia’s Olympic hopefuls have been urged to put a social media plan in place for Rio. The decision has ultimately been left to individuals, and each will have a slightly different approach.
Originally published at The Isthmus.
