Shooters and shade, community and cheese: How social media impacted the 2024 Paris Olympics

After 16 days of thrilling, heartbreaking and dramatic events, the 2024 Paris Olympics have come to a close. Though the Olympic events took place in and around Paris, there was an additional arena in which to experience them: online.

With social media only growing more ubiquitous, the drama and excitement of the Olympics extended beyond Paris. New Olympic icons spread like wildfire on social media, while big comebacks and wins were celebrated, athletes in need were given a helping hand and the Games made their mark worldwide. Though the virality of the 2024 Olympics was similar to the games in Tokyo, the Paris Games saw some people and events gain a global reach that affected how the games were played, perceived and celebrated.

Here are some of the biggest, most viral stories of the Olympic games.

Yusuf Dikeç becomes a breakout star — and a popular new pose

Turkish shooter Yusuf Dikeç became one of the most unlikely viral stars of these Olympics early in the Games. Dikeç won silver with his teammate Sevval Ilayda Tarhan, picking up Turkey’s first-ever shooting medal, but it was his cool approach to shooting — hand in pocket, simple eyeglasses, no protective headgear — that made him stand out.

South Korean shooter Kim Ye-ji, who won silver in her event, went similarly viral for her cocked hip and specialized glasses as she shot.

Dikeç’s legacy continued after his events were over, as a number of track and field stars went on to strike his signature pose during their competitions. Swedish pole vaulter Armand Duplantis hit the finger gun-hand in pocket combo move after winning gold; the South African 4x100m men’s relay team hit it after winning silver; the Great Britain 4x400m women’s relay team struck the pose before winning bronze.

Simone Biles and Suni Lee take shots while celebrating gold

After Simone Biles and Sunisa Lee led the U.S. to a gold medal in the gymnastics team event, the two celebrated IRL and online.

Lee, who has an active TikTok account, was focused on celebrating the team win in spite of people who didn’t think they would be able to take gold. Lee was seen planning out her TikTok with her teammates soon after the win, and posted it shortly after.

“Everybody wanted to know what I would do if I didn’t win,” Lee and Jordan Chiles lip-synch, before Lee covers the camera and uncovers it to reveal the team holding their gold medals. “I guess we’ll never know.” The video has nearly 50 million views and more than seven million likes on TikTok.

Biles’ targets were a little more specific. Her first Instagram post after the win, which got more than 4 million likes, took a shot at former USA teammate MyKayla Skinner. The caption read “lack of talent, lazy, olympic champions” — a reference to Skinner’s criticism of Biles’ current USA teammates, who she said “don’t work as hard” and “don’t have the work ethic.”

Biles soon revealed that she’d been blocked by Skinner on social media.

But she didn’t end there: Biles also took a shot at former President Donald Trump, who has been criticized for talking about “black jobs” on the campaign trail, with a post on X that has more than a million likes.

Kevin Durant, inspired by Simone Biles, gets in some late-night posting after winning gold

Kevin Durant won his fourth straight Olympic gold medal in Paris, getting there after a tight semifinal against Serbia. In the early-morning hours after the semifinal, Durant turned to his other favorite activity: tweeting.

Rather than getting some sleep after the win, Durant got into it with multiple fans on X at 5 a.m. Paris time.

Durant told The Athletic that he was inspired by Simone Biles, both on and off the court. Durant said that he really admired Biles for her talent and poise, but also for how she dealt with what people said about her. “She’s inspired me to keep tweeting and keep doing what I do on the court too,” Durant said of Biles, whom he repeatedly refers to as the GOAT.

Inspired indeed, he didn’t stop at the semifinal. Durant also took a dig at Germany’s Dennis Schroeder. During a press conference, Schroeder said that “European basketball is no entertainment, it’s straight IQ basketball” — seemingly implying that American basketball does not have the same intelligence.

Durant posted a photo of the gold medal-winning Team USA captioned “ENTERTAINMENT & IQ” in response.

Athletes get a chance to shine on TikTok

Several athletes took advantage of the extra attention in Paris by curating a social media following around their Olympic experience.

USA rugby sevens star Ilona Maher, who originally started gaining a following during the Tokyo Games, grew her platform even more during the Paris Games. Maher gained thousands of social media followers throughout the Olympics, raising awareness of her sport — which was given an extra boost when the United States shocked Australia to win a landmark bronze medal.

One of the best breakout TikTok stars of these Olympics is Norwegian swimmer Henrik Christiansen, the self-proclaimed “muffin man” who went viral for his obsession with the chocolate muffin available in the Olympic village.

Christiansen is a three-time Olympian and long-distance swimmer who consumes up to 7,000 calories a day as part of his training — so the excess of chocolate muffins is not a threat to his Olympic goals. He has millions of views on TikTok related to his muffin mania, with one of his videos racking up more than 20 million views and three million likes.

His obsession had a domino effect, prompting several other athletes to try the muffins and led to people trying to recreate the recipe.

Christiansen, it should be noted, did not quite have quite the same breakout in the water: He successfully finished the marathon swim on August 8 but finished dead last. Still, Christiansen leaves Paris with a significant social media following — more than 489,000 followers on TikTok as of Sunday — and an incredibly specific lore to go along with his athletic career.

Many athletes that compete at the games have made great financial sacrifices to get there. But one athlete, USA discus thrower Veronica Fraley, was able to turn her struggles into a happy ending after a post about not being able to pay her rent went viral.

Fraley, a 24-year-old student-athlete at Vanderbilt, posted about Vanderbilt only sending a percentage of the money needed to pay her rent. Flavor Flav, who has been an enthusiastic supporter of Team USA and a patron of the women’s water polo team, quickly responded to say that he would help her out, and Alexis Ohanian helped split the cost.

Per Flavor Flav, Fraley’s rent has been paid off for a year by people who saw her tweet and reached out to support her.

Pommel Horse Guy, Raygun, Bob the Cap-Catcher, the Italian cheese gymnast and more unexpected icons of the games

Sometimes the unexpected is what really captures people’s attention. Some of the most memorable moments of these games weren’t about the events themselves, but were individuals who unexpectedly went viral.

Some of these figures, like Bob the Cap-Catcher, the floral swim trunk-clad guy whose job was to retrieve swimming caps from the pool, gained short-term attention. Others, like gymnast Stephen Nedoroscik, persisted. Nedoroscik — AKA “Pommel Horse Guy” — came in clutch for the United States in the men’s gymnastics team event, completing a brilliant routine on his only event, pommel horse, that clinched a bronze medal for Team USA. Nedoroscik went on to win bronze in the individual final as well.

Another gymnast, Italian Giorgia Villa, went viral as well for being sponsored by Parmigiano-Reggiano, the Italian consortium for all cheese that bears that name. Villa helped Italy win silver in the team event, its first gymnastics team medal in nearly 100 years, but some would say that she was already a winner with that sponsorship.

The Games concluded with a final viral figure in Raygun, the 36-year-old professor who showed up at breaking’s Olympic debut and gave a, well, memorable performance. B-girl Raygun, AKA Rachael Gunn, wore a classic Australian uniform, didn’t earn a single point — and became an instant icon.

Iconic medal selfies to commemorate the wins

Finally, social media gives athletes a chance to show off their hardware. Several Americans took their medal selfies to social media.

And on a busy Saturday, American basketball player Tyrese Haliburton (who didn’t play in the rotation) and 16-year-old track phenom Quincy Wilson posted their own medal selfies — while poking fun at themselves.

It was a memorable Olympic Games, both on the ground and online. In a little over a year and a half the 2026 Winter Olympics will begin in Milan/Cortina, surely with even more stars waiting to break out.