Fears that social media might undermine the control that the Olympic Council has over the protection of sponsors’ rights are receding with the launch and initial growth of the Olympic Athletes’ Hub.
The Hub has been established as a central portal linking competing athletes twitter, facebook and other social feeds and promises to be the ‘go to’ area to capture the most interesting athlete stories in the run up to and throughout the Games. 
In the first few days over 1,000 athletes and former Olympians have signed up.  Ireland is represented in these early stages by Scott Evans from Badminton, David Gillick from the track and 1992 Olympic silver medal boxer Wayne McCullough.
The Hub ensures that accounts are real and will host special events from the athlete’s village, effectively turning pre and post event press conferences into public access events.  There are reward elements to it whereby you can unlock extra content and win virtual medals along the way.
The site has a strong presence itself on Twitter and facebook and provides a view of how sports organisations can help to develop athletes’ presence on social media while at the same time maintaining control over it.
We will look at the Hub in greater depth in this week’s issue of Sport for Business Weekly, out on Thursday.
www.olympic.org/hub
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