Twitter takes the Olympic gold for speed

@CNNMoneyTech July 31, 2012: 2:03 PM ET

NEW YORK (CNNMoney) -- In the 2012 London Olympics, Twitter is taking center stage.

It's the first Olympics where many of the competition results are hitting the Web through social networks before they're aired on television.

In stats released exclusively to CNNMoney, Twitter revealed there have been more than 10 million Olympic tweets sent during the games so far. Twitter says the tweet volume is about 100 times what it saw during the Beijing Olympics in 2008.

While Twitter lit up with talk about U.S. Olympic swimmers Michael Phelps and Ryan Lochte during their widely anticipated races, the sport with the most mentions is volleyball, according to Twitter. The company doesn't differentiate between "beach volleyball" or "indoor volleyball" in its measurements.

Two-thirds of team USA's athletes are on Twitter. Many of them are chattering about the outcome of their events long before U.S. television viewers get a peek at the action.

Some fans are grumpy about having to hide from online "spoilers" about not-yet-aired events, but Twitter shrugged off that criticism. It says it's thrilled that Twitter is connecting fans and athletes in real-time in "unprecedented ways."

The company points to Phelps congratulating Lochte on Twitter immediately following their most dramatic race, and to athletes taking to Twitter to post pictures of their medals.

After taking home the gold for her performance in the 100 meter Olympic backstroke race, U.S. swimmer Missy Franklin was the most tweeted about athlete over the past 24 hours, surpassing both Phelps and Lochte in mentions.

Franklin also took to Twitter to express her excitementTo top of page

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