A screenshot of Roger Federer's page, currently the third most followed athlete behind baketball players LeBron James and Kobe Bryant
With just 100 days to go until this summer’s Olympic games in London the IOC(International Olympic Committee) today launched Athlete Hub, a new site bringing together social media updates from Olympian athletes, offering fans direct access to their favourite athletes, and more.
“The Olympic Athletes’ Hub was born out of our desire to connect Olympic athletes and their fans more intimately than ever before”, said Alex Huot¸ head of social media at the IOC. “We are excited to offer this opportunity for greater engagement and interaction between Olympians and their fans”, he added.
The social media site will make it easy to keep up with the athletes’ updates through their official Facebook and Twitter accounts, all aggregated on the Athletes’ Hub, so audience members can be sure that the updates aren’t from fake accounts. The space will also be used to give fans an insider’s look into the Olympic Village, and will include chats with athletes.
1,000 current and former athletes have already signed up to the service and that number is expected to boom as the games approach. Huot is hoping that the athletes will not only interact with their fans but also with each other allowing users to get a taste of what it’s like inside the Olympic village.
A rewards system is also in place, where fans can unlock extras including training tip videos from greats like Romanian gymnast Nadia Comaneci and American swimmer Mark Spitz, and can also receive virtual Olympic medals along with a few real-world prizes as well.
