Para Athletics, Shooting & Swimming: Fresh Insights as the Summer Games Continue

Not all the conversation around the opening ceremony was positive. A post on X by a wheelchair user went viral, sharing her disappointment that the event was not as inclusive as hoped:   

Jackie Chan carries the torch 

Hong Kong actor and martial arts legend Jackie Chan was one of the torchbearers, carrying the torch through Paris a few hours before the opening ceremony.    

The 70-year-old actor impressed with his energy and positivity, and a Reddit post sharing a video of him carrying the torch received over 23k upvotes: 

Simone Biles cheers and wishes good luck  

It has been a big year for Simone Biles, who is one of the most successful athletes of all time, with a record 23 world gold medals. She's been reminding her followers to support and celebrate the ongoing games. Her post on X has an impressive 224k likes at the time of writing. 

Go team India! 

One way to share emotions and express support online is to post emojis. Sometimes text just isn't enough to express your excitement.    

Here are the 10 most shared emojis in the conversation: 

1. 🥇 
2. 🇮🇳 
3. 🥉 
4. 🇺🇸 
5. 💙 
6. 🥈 
7. 👏 
8. ❤️ 
9. 🔥 
10. 📺 

In the top 10, people celebrate their favorite athletes with the medal emoji, heart emoji, clapping hand emoji, or fire emoji. The Indian flag is the most shared flag in online conversations, followed by the US flag.    

In online conversations with the Indian flag, one athlete stands out and breaks a record. Shooter Avani Lekhara won gold, becoming the first Indian woman to win two gold medals at the competition. 

Her victory sent ripples through social media, causing the highest peak in online conversations about the games from August 28 to September 1, 2024. 

Love is in the air  

There may be a lot of competition at the summer games, but there's also a lot of love. One moment in particular sparked a lot of heartfelt conversations when triathlete Lionel Morales Gonzalez proposed to his girlfriend. Luckily, she said yes, and the couple received lots of love and heart emojis for the heartwarming moment. 

All eyes are on para athletics  

There are 22 sports with more than 4,000 athletes competing for 549 medals. That's a lot going on in just ten days.   

Here are the top five most mentions sports in online conversations:  

1. Para athletics 
2. Shooting para sport 
3. Para swimming 
4. Para taekwondo 
5. Para badminton    

Para athletics is by far the most mentioned sport in online conversation, accounting for 31% of the online buzz around the different sport categories. From running to discus throwing to jumping, there are a lot of different disciplines in this category. One of the highlights in athletics conversations is the win of runner Mpumelelo Mhlongo, who brought home South Africa’s first gold medal of the tournament. 

The top-mentioned para athletes 

The Indian team has had an impressive run in the summer games so far and the fans are here for it. Winning medals and breaking records, the Indian team is getting a lot of love from the crowd.    

Looking at the five most mentioned para athletes in online conversations, all the athletes in the top five are from India: 

1. Avani Lekhara 
2. Mona Agarwal 
3. Preeti Pal
4. Manish Narwal 
5. Sheetal Devi   

Record-breaker Avani Lekhara tops the list, followed by Mona Agarwal, who's also a shooter and competed alongside Avani, winning bronze. Preeti Pal is third. The runner won bronze, which earned her praise from India's Prime Minister Narendra Modi.  

Sheetal Devi goes viral  

The fifth most mentioned para athlete in the conversation is 17-year-old archer Sheetal Devi. What makes her skill so impressive is not just that she shoots with her leg and her jaw, but her calm and focused demeanor (you could say she's the embodiment of the very demure, very mindful trend.)   

A viral post on X showing her perfect bullseye-shot at the games got over 466k likes and over 61m views at the time of writing. 

Break dancing may not be part of this tournament, but it got people's attention 

While break dancing is not an official sport at this tournament, there was one performance that went viral outside the competition.    

This video is one of the most upvoted posts in the online para sports conversations we studied on Reddit, with over 30k upvotes. People in the comments are in awe of the incredible moves on show.  

Triathlete Veronica Yoko Plebani is the most popular para athlete on Instagram  

Which para athlete is the most popular on Instagram? Using Brandwatch Influence, we analyzed the athletes competing in para sport during the summer games who receive the most engagements.   

And the winner is: Veronica Yoko Plebani. The Italian athlete is not new to competing, having competed in the past in a variety of sports including snowboarding and kayaking. This year she won a silver medal in para triathlon and her Instagram posts, with an average of 34k engagements, catapulted her to the top of the most popular athletes on Instagram.