#TokyoOlympics takes centre stage on Twitter

As the Olympic Games get underway, following a year of delays and uncertainty, the world’s attention is turning to Tokyo, with Twitter transforming into the roar of the crowd, as real-time conversations unfold on the platform. From supporting Olympians, to commentary of sporting events, people are celebrating what’s happening, through country flag emojis, olympic emojis and a number of other features.

For the first time ever, the official Olympic Games emoji on Twitter will be available in over 30 languages including Arabic, and fans will be able to join the conversation with over 200 emojis, spanning:

Olympic sporting events such as #Archery; #Athletics; #ArtisticGymnastics; #Badminton; #Boxing; #Equestrian; #Fencing; #Golf; #Hockey; #Judo; #Rowing; #Sailing; #Swimming; #TableTennis; #Tennis; #Weightlifting; #Wrestling; and more.
Olympic medals (#Gold, #Silver, #Bronze)
Country flags, which will be unlocked when Tweeting three-character country hashtags, including #KSA, #EGY, #UAE

Tweeting with these hashtags will trigger emojis until August 8, 2021.

As well as featuring Tweets from Olympic partners, teams, and talent, Twitter is also home to a number of specialised features to help fans get the most out of the event this summer. Here’s a look at what to expect:

Table of Contents

#ExpertEngine Experience take on couch commentators

Every Olympics, people confidently Tweet their ‘expert’ opinions on sports. This year Twitter is turning fans into experts. When Tweeting #ExpertEngine, @Olympics and any sporting event hashtag, such as #Wrestling, fans will automatically receive a video reply teaching them all about that sport.

Olympics Explore Tab

In a Twitter first, the platform is hosting a dedicated tab in the Explore section of the app called #TokyoOlympics, which will feature country specific Event Pages including UAE, Saudi Arabia, and Egypt, as well as dedicated sport pages featuring top Tweets from trusted accounts. Helping people follow the action and reactions as they happen for the marquee events and top games. The Explore section will also feature Partner Moments; Twitter Moments; Topics; and Lists. People will be able to follow real-time updates with one tap and click.

Lists

Compilations of various Twitter accounts, through Twitter’s Olympic Lists, fans can follow curated Olympic Tweet streams including:

Twitter Topics:

Twitter has created a series of custom Topics for the Games that will keep timelines populated with top Tweets and content. People will be able to see Topics in their search results to stay on top of what’s happening in Tokyo.

Below is a snapshot of what’s happening in Saudi Arabia surrounding Olympics as the team takes on Tokyo:

Top mentioned sports capturing people’s attention:

Judo
Soccer
Taekwondo
Basketball
Tennis

Top mentioned athletes driving conversation:

Saudi table tennis player Ali Alkhadrawi
Serbian professional tennis player Novak Djokovic (@DjokerNole)
Brazilian professional footballer Dani Alves (@DaniAlvesD2)
Egyptian professional footballer Ahmed Hegazi (@Hegazi)
Japanese professional tennis player Naomi Osaka (@naomiosaka)

Top mentioned handles:

Minister of Sports, President of the Saudi Arabian Olympic Committee, Abdulaziz Bin Turki Al-Faisal (@AbdulazizTF)
Official Account of the Saudi Arabian Olympic Committee (@saudiolympic)
The official Olympics page (@olympics)
The official account of The Tokyo Organizing Committee (@tokyo2020)
Official account of the Ministry of Sport in Saudi (@gsaksa)

While, the most-used hashtags in Saudi Arabia include:

#أولمبياد_طوكيو (Tokyo Olympics)
#كلنا_السعودية (Together for Saudi)
#tokyoolympics
#تهاني_القحطاني (Tahani Alqahtani, Saudi Arabian international level judoka)
#openingceremony

Top liked Tweets:

Minister of sports, Abdulaziz Bin Turki Al-Faisal (@AbdulazizTF), shares his pride as the Saudi team raises the flag at the opening ceremony of the games.

https://twitter.com/AbdulazizTF/status/1418574366644834307

Eyad Alhamoud (@eyaaaad) shared a video of the 1,800 drones forming a globe over the National Stadium announcing the start of the Olympics.

https://twitter.com/Eyaaaad/status/1418591446475628544

Saudi Arabian Olympic Committee (@saudiolympic) shared images of Abdulaziz Bin Turki Al-Faisal and Princess Reema bint Bandar Al Saud cheering on the Saudi team during the opening ceremony.

https://twitter.com/saudiolympic/status/1418575633177714688

Saudi Arabian Olympic Committee (@saudiolympic) shared images of the Saudi team raising the flag during the opening ceremony

https://twitter.com/saudiolympic/status/1418555861820231682

Princess Reema bint Bandar Al Saud (@rbalsaud) shares her excitement for the games, highlighting this year’s Saudi Olympic flag bearers

https://twitter.com/rbalsaud/status/1418495252839628802

Some of the top Retweeted Tweets in Saudi Arabia included the tweet by Abdulaziz Bin Turki Al-Faisal (@AbdulazizTF) in which he congratulated rower Hussain Ali Rida for his qualification in the quarter finals – the Tweet was Retweeted widely. Other top Retweetswere of the Ministry of Sport in KSA (@gsaksa) showcasing Saudi Arabia at the opening ceremony of the Olympic Games.

In UAE, the top sports mentioned were:

Weightlifting
Soccer
Basketball
Judo
Tennis

While top mentioned athletes included:

Emirati swimming champion, Yousef Al Matrooshi
Japanese professional tennis player Naomi Osaka (@naomiosaka)
Indian Olympic boxer, Mary Kom (@MangteC)
Serbian professional tennis player Novak Djokovic (@DjokerNole)
Indian field hockey player, Manpreet Singh (@manpreetpawar07)

Twitter will be the roar of the crowd in the coming weeks and where sports fans everywhere will convene for the latest content and real-time conversation.