Athletics Canada seizes moment to create social media gold

World championships buzz draws new fans to track and field

Image | perdita and andre

Caption: Perdita Felicien was busy all week not only reporting, but tweeting from the world track and field championship.

For most of us, being on our mobile phones and computers was as close as we could get to the world track and field championships in Beijing. Thankfully, Twitter and Instagram were filled with entertaining content, sometimes getting news out to Canada before it reached those in the Bird's Nest: the U.S. relay team disqualification was a good example.
The Canadian track team, with eight medals, had its best showing ever, and Athletics Canada couldn't have picked a better time to up its social media game, bringing some levity to the experience as well.
"Our objective with social media is to inform and entertain," says Mathieu Gentès, the one-man band behind the Athletics Canada social team.
"The world championships are serious business, as is all sport at the elite level, but at the same time if we want to grow our footprint and the sport we also need to be in the entertainment business."
And entertain us they did. Athletics Canada made sure to be in contact with their followers, competitors and fans alike.

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"Adding Rocky music to the men's 4x100m entrance… this was actually a fan request that we obliged," says Gentès, who says Athletics Canada gained almost 3,000 followers between Twitter(external link) and Instagram.(external link)

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And a few of their creative GIFs perfectly captured the feelings of the audience.

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We also have an honourable mention. The CBC's Perdita Felicien was constantly interviewing athletes in the mixed zone and posting key moments on social media.

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