The Olympics’ best tweets
These Olympic tweets should win a medal
The time has come to publish the final results in the Best Tweet category at the Tokyo Olympics. There were a bunch of standout performers on Twitter this year, but at the end of competition (in Tokyo) there were seven tweets that stood out among the rest.
Track superstar Sifan Hassan gave us so much to talk about over the last two weeks. First, it was her comeback in the heats of the 1,500m after falling, and winning the heat. Later that evening, she won her first Olympic gold over 5,000m, beating out Hellen Obiri of Kenya. In a post-race interview, Hassan delivered some post-race gold, followed by this tweet, which comes in at #7 on our list:
https://twitter.com/erinstrout/status/1422189896828166149
RELATED: Sifan Hassan to attempt the 1,500m, 5,000m and 10,000m triple
Track and field athletes really can do it all. Sweden’s Daniel Stahl, who won the men’s discus throw, pleads the case as he went for his notorious victory lap in celebration of his gold medal – which has given the Internet one of the greatest memes from the 2020 Olympics. Here’s the discus champion at #6:
https://twitter.com/aniketmishra299/status/1421449776181088256
What would you do if you won a gold medal? Well, just ask men’s 3,000m steeplechase champion Soufiane El Bakkali, who apparently had a night to remember before his 10 a.m. 1,500m heat the day after he won gold. El Bakkali ended up stepping off the track with one lap to go in the heats, apparently because he was hurting from the night before. El Bakkali sits inside the top 5:
For those wondering why Morocco’s Soufiane El Bakkali DNF'ed the first round of the men’s 1,500m after winning gold in the steeple: “I celebrated a lot, and I am very happy to be an Olympic champion. But this morning I went to bed at five, so I was tired going into the race.”
— Chris Chavez (@ChrisChavez) August 3, 2021
Damian Warner made history for Canada becoming the first athlete to win gold in a multi-sport event, setting a Olympic and Canadian record in the process of 9,018 points. How could we not feature this amazing tweet from Team Canada. This tweet finishes in our fourth position:
The last man standing… literally ? pic.twitter.com/Z734bVnN4C
— Team Canada (@TeamCanada) August 5, 2021
Our #3 spot belongs to another Olympic medallist: 19-year-old 800m star Keely Hodgkinson of the U.K. broke the British national record with her silver medal performance in the 800m. British broadcaster and journalist Piers Morgan took to Twitter to post his rather negative thoughts on her performance and the race. The silver medallist had this to say in response:
Keely*
— KnH (@keelyhodgkinson) August 3, 2021
Norway’s Karsten Warholm is known for being loud on the track. Twitter users will never forget his facial expression when he realized that he annihilated his own world record and won Olympic gold. Warholm is a silver medallist on our podium with his compatriot, the painter Edvard Munch:
Who did it better? #NOR | #Olympics pic.twitter.com/WGPtCPVNGI
— Olympics (@Olympics) August 3, 2021
RELATED: Karsten Warholm smashes 400m hurdles world record, wins gold in Tokyo
Shoutout to this tweeter, who combined two Canadian icons, 200m gold medallist Andre De Grasse and teen drama series ‘Degrassi’, making a tweet for the ages – congratulations on winning our gold medal for tweet of the Olympics:
If we end up naming a school after our newest gold medalist, the most Canadian thing would be to call it De Grasse Junior High.
— Ian Mendes (@ian_mendes) August 4, 2021
We have honourable mentions for those who achieved a personal best but didn’t make the final:
The pivot from Olympic swimming on center stage to track and field is always like going from The Sound of Music to Reservoir Dogs.
— Tim Layden (@ByTimLayden) August 1, 2021
Both of which are very good – but Reservoir Dogs has a little more action…
Just heard Aussie sprinter Rohan Browning didn’t turn up for his interview on channel 7’s Sunrise. Last thing I heard him say to a channel 7 reporter last night was,“No bottle of Asahi is safe in Tokyo tonight!” ? Love it! What a legend!
— brendan grealy (@brendangrealy) August 3, 2021
Australia’s Rohan Browning on celebrating after achieving a PB in the 100m heats and being eliminated from the semifinal.
Athing Mu + Keely Hodgkinson = Nick Willis
— Kyle Merber (@TheRealMerb) August 3, 2021
19 + 19 = 38. Simply remarkable for all athletes to have competed at the Games.
Worst haka ever @nickwillis pic.twitter.com/IsD0qLkkRH
— Kyle Merber (@TheRealMerb) August 3, 2021
It’s important to remember just because you see the pros do something doesn’t mean you should too. Just because rolling around on the ground with 380m works for some people doesn’t mean it’ll work for you
— Kyle Merber (@TheRealMerb) August 2, 2021
Ex-Runner turned journalist Kyle Merber has a few tweets well deserving to make our final. If you have been following every second of the track and field coverage, his knowledgeable tweets will align with the thoughts of the casual fan. You can check out more of his Olympic tweets here:
Did we miss a tweet worthy of an automatic qualifier? Tag us on Twitter @CanadianRunning