AOC Asks Athletes Are You Going to Rio to Tweet or Compete?

The Australian Olympic Committee (AOC) is doing everything they can to educate athletes about the influence social media can have on their performance. The AOC has put together a presentation aimed at increasing athletes’ awareness of the potential negative affects that social media could have on their results in Rio. The video presentation includes Olympic gold medalists Anna Meares (track cyclist), Sally Pearson (hurdler) and swimmers Cate Campbell and Emily Seebohm.

AOC media director Mike Tancred told the Herald Sun, “The presentation says are you going to Rio to tweet or compete?’’

“When we went to London we found it was a massive distraction for a lot of athletes.”

Seebohm’s experience in 2012 is a great example of the impact that social media can have on an athlete’s focus. In the women’s 100 backstroke Seebohm broke the Olympic and Australian records posting a time of 58.23. She was also the fastest qualifier after the semi-finals where she finished in a time of 58.39.

In the final American Missy Franklin won gold in a time of 58.33 while Seebohm finished second in a time of 58.68. In interviews after the race Seebohm admitted that she let herself become distracted by social media, “I don’t know, I just felt like I didn’t really get off [social media] and get into my own mind,” said Seebohm.

“I have said a lot that all I need to do is focus on my own race. But when people start telling you are going to win gold, you are going to start believing it. When they tell you a thousand times you are going to get it, somewhere in your mind you are just like, ‘I’ve done it’. But I hadn’t and that was a big learning curve and I obviously need to sign out of Twitter and log out of Facebook a lot sooner than I did.”

The rules around the use of social media in Rio will be left to each individual national sporting organization. Tancred told the Herald Sun that many have started to put policies in place, but he is also making sure that veteran national team members are helping educate other athletes, “We are saying to sports to come up with a plan — a lot are banning it for two hours before and after competition.”

“I am letting our high profile athletes like Emma and Anna put the message across on our behalf.”

In the presentation athletes share some of the strategies they use to prevent social media from being a distraction. Pearson deletes Twitter from her devices while at competition while Meares posts on social media, but does not read or respond to comments.