Allyson Felix is very responsive to her 40,600 fans on Twitter
There are many entertaining Olympians on Twitter, but here are 10 you should definitely be following as the Opening Ceremonies are now less than a month away!
Lolo Jones (@lolojones) – U.S. Track and Field: She gained notoriety recently by admitting she’s a virgin on 60 minutes and let the world in on her incredible life story. She is known for speed and ability to jump over waist high child safety gates (harder than it sounds). She is the odds on favorite to medal for the Americans in the 100m hurdles. As for her Twitter account, her tweets are pretty funny- if you can stand her obnoxious scripture tweeting fans. At the very least, if her tweets aren’t funny they tend to be insightful.
Quintessential Tweet: “shhh… don’t tell em but I plan on farting at the start line to throw some of my competitors off the game. #tactics”
Followers: 126,000
Boris Johnson (@mayoroflondon): London Mayor and Dumb and Dumber Jeff Daniels impersonator is very active on Twitter. While he’s not as comedic as you might think it is very obvious he’s a huge sports fan. You can tell how excited he is for the games and how proud he is to be mayor of the host city. Also he’s a funny looking dude so make sure to check out all his twitpics or follow the twitter account dedicated to his hair @Boris_Hair.
Quintessential Tweet: “After that fantastic jubilee weekend, work started today on dressing our city for the Games & a summer like no other”
Followers: 326,100
Kelly Holmes (@damekellyholmes) – Former GB Olympian: Kelly Holmes is just an interesting person. She left school at 16; joined the British Army at 18; became an Army Judo Champion; raced against men in Army during the 800m because she embarrassed all her female competitors. Finally, in 2004, she won two Olympic Gold Medals in the 800m and 1500m. Now she is one of Great Britain’s Olympic Ambassadors. She’s had an interesting life and is worth getting to know better on Twitter.
Quintessential tweet: “The things that make me proud:2 golds,Army career,Having the guts to learn & make mistakes,Never giving up on my dream & my @OnCampWithKelly” (On Camp With Kelly is a mentoring and educational program for talented young middle distance runners)
Followers: 32,900
Usain Bolt (@usainbolt) – Jamaica Track and Field/Green and Yellow Blur: One of the most fun athletes to watch. He tweets a lot of pics and keeps you up-to-date on his training regimen. Bolt’s popularity is unquestioned and he should be fun to follow throughout the games.
Quintessential Tweet: “After a good work session then it’s back home to work on my back and abs for the girls lol”
Followers: 536,700
Geraint Thomas (@GeraintThomas86) – Great Britain Cycling: Thomas has a hilarious Twitter account and stays very active. The guy really is a goofball and makes for a good read. Maybe it’s because he’s Welsh.
Quintessential Tweet: “I’m giving up sausages”
Followers: 62,300
Alex Morgan (@alexmorgan13) – USA Soccer: I knew she was attractive, but this girl stole my heart when she tweeted about getting a burger at In-N-Out. Stay tuned for my Twitter marriage proposal.
Quintessential Tweet: “There’s always time for some in-n-out burger on a layover in LA”
Followers: 509,800
Brady Ellison (@Brady_Ellison) – USA Archery: I didn’t even know archery was an Olympic sport until I ran across this bro’s account. He brings in a bronze medal from the 2011 world championships and may be the U.S. best chance to medal in archery since 2000. Fairly new to twitter, he may not have the amount of followers some of the other athletes on this list do but he’s also probably the most real one of them; just a dude shooting a medieval weapon at a target a la Robinhood.
Quintessential Tweet: “YEEEEEE HAAAAAA. USA girls just won their Olympic spots”
Followers: 471
Travis Stevens (@JudoSilencer) – USA Judo: America’s best shot at a Judo medal loves to tweet about food and how bad he smells after going on a cutting run. An all-around badass and a good Twitter feed.
Quintessential Tweet: “Sitting at another airport waiting for another flight: Why do I even have an apartment?”
Followers: 387
Kevin Love (@kevinlove) – USA Basketball: This guy is just plain funny. There’s plenty of NBA or Olympic Twitter accounts that are more popular but you can tell this guy “gets it.”
Quintessential Tweet: “That awkward moment when you realize the person isn’t following you on twitter anymore…”
Followers: 288,000
Allyson Felix (@allysonfelix) – USA Track and Field: Felix is already an American track star with gold and silver medals in Beijing. These Olympics could be a banner season for her as she already won gold at the World Championships last year and is looking for more hardware. She stays active on Twitter and seems to really make an effort to reply to her fan’s tweets.
Quintessential Tweet: “Did a little damage at the Nike employee store!”
Followers: 38,200
(Photo Courtesy of Photo: Bob Martin/SI, Carl Court/PA Wire, Seattle Times)
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