Generation TikTok: how sportswomen set the bar higher than the men
Lina Nielsen remembers the moment she got the idea. She was sitting with her sprinting teammates in the Olympic Village in Paris – and she was bored. “I told Yemi Mary John, ‘I’m going to make this TikTok,’” Nielsen recalls. She went to her bedroom, grabbed the phone each athlete was given and typed into an Excel spreadsheet, “Where are you? Hello to me.”
Her five-second parody of Kelly Rowland’s botched texting video barely took longer than that to make. It also received 8 million views. “It’s funny that the videos that do that best are the ones where you don’t put any effort into,” Nielsen says with a laugh. She’s still trying to come to terms with the fact that her TikTok channel was the most popular of all the British athletes at the Games, even beating the knitting-tastic Tom Daley into second place. At the end of the Olympic fortnight, her channels were watched by more people than the Australian and German teams combined.
Nielsen and her twin sister Laviai – who also competed in Paris – had joined thousands of athletes sharing a behind-the-scenes look at village life, from chocolate muffins to cardboard beds. “It was a nice distraction because you’re so focused on competing and it can get a little intense. Social media just took your mind off things,” she says. After falling in the semi-final of the 400m hurdles, Nielsen helped the British relay team to bronze in the 4x400m.
The so-called TikTok Olympics showed a surprising trend in 2024: sportswomen perform better than athletes on social media. A study by the Women in Sport Trust found that female athletes were responsible for 69% of all TeamGB TikTok content and 67% of all views. Globally, female voices dominated the conversation in Paris, from Australian water polo player Tilly Kearns to Dutch skateboarder Keet Oldenbeuving.
The American gymnasts’ feeds became a storyline in themselves after MyKayla Skinner criticized her former teammates’ work ethic just before they took gold and Simone Biles posted a photo of the subsequent celebrations with the caption: “Lack of talent, lazy, Olympic champions. ”
But the biggest breakout star of the Games was Ilona Maher, the American rugby star whose outspokenness captured hearts with her signature lipstick and fake Love Island videos from the Olympic Village. The 28-year-old – who won bronze with the US team in Paris and a second medal on Dancing with the Stars – caused a sensation when she signed for Bristol Bears this month.
“I’m not even going to let six figures play rugby, that’s the sad truth,” Maher said in a recent interview. “Some people might think, ‘She doesn’t mean what she does, she posts on TikTok, she doesn’t care about the sport, she’s not going to be that good.’ No. I have to post on TikTok. That’s where I make the most money.”
Her openness is a big part of her appeal. “She is just who she is,” says Ellie Boatman, the rugby sevens player who scored a try in Great Britain’s quarter-final against the US. ‘The reason she’s so popular is because people know she’s not trying to be someone else. She shares a lot about being in a bigger body – she used to be a little shy about that and is now very proud of it. I think this appeals to a lot of women.”
Boatman has built a significant following himself; her kit run-through was Team GB’s most viewed video. Her online presence grew through her honest discussions about overcoming an eating disorder and Boatman believes social media has encouraged sportswomen to show their more vulnerable side.
“As an athlete, it was about just getting on with the job and working super hard,” Boatman said. “Now I think people are much more invested in the person behind the athlete – that’s where people can relate. Over the past year we’ve seen a lot more stories about people’s journeys, which is really cool.”
Relatability has become a USP in a sports industry where exorbitantly paid male athletes, from Premier League footballers to NBA stars, seem to lose touch with reality and are sucked into academies and university programs from their teenage years.
Jenny Mitton, managing partner and head of women’s sports at M&C Saatchi, says it makes sense that sportswomen need to be natural communicators on social media – they have long had to raise their voices to be heard. “If they’re passionate, whether it’s about performing well or tackling inequality, there’s a real authenticity to what they say,” says Mitton. “And that’s what flies by on social media.”
The positive consequences for female athletes who continue to compete for mainstream media coverage are clear – not least for those in sports that are rarely covered outside of the quadrennial events. Paralympian Lottie McGuinness switched from swimming to powerlifting in 2020: since then she says: “I have trained for four years for a moment that lasts less than 30 seconds.”
Her competitive action only lasts a few seconds at a time – you could say this is a sport made for TikTok. Indeed, her content was the most viewed of all British athletes at the Paralympic Games. “Leading up to Paris I was uploading every day,” says McGuinness. “I really enjoyed that and I got into a rhythm which really helped me. It was just great to expose the sport and show what it’s all about.”
But there is a dark side. Research commissioned by the International Olympic Committee and published by Loughborough University Early this year, it emerged that female athletes are disproportionately victims of abuse on social media, much of it linked to their gender or sexuality. There was no better example of that disturbing and destructive trend at the Olympic Games than the case of boxers Imane Khelif and Lin Yu-ting. Questions about their gender eligibility (by the International Boxing Association, which had barred them from the 2023 world championships) dominated the news agenda and provoked the ugliest online reactions.
Dr. Emily Hayday, one of the authors of the Loughborough report, says it is important that sporting organizations recognize where flashpoints are likely to occur and put systems in place to protect athletes. “Responsibility was the biggest issue we identified: who is responsible for security in these spaces? A good example is what the IOC did when implementing an AI-based system to detect and identify abuse early. They could then provide targeted support to the federations involved in their management.”
Considering that Khelif and Lin’s IBA disqualification occurred over a year before the Games, one could argue that the IOC should have addressed the issue much earlier in the process. Yet the research shows that social media comments can cause measurable damage to athletes’ careers and well-being. Take Rachael Louise Gunn, aka Raygun, whose kangaroo-hopping performance during the breaking match drew widespread attention – and scorn. “I didn’t realize this would open the door to so much hate, which honestly has been quite devastating,” Gunn said at the time. She has since retired from the competition.
American gymnast Jordan Chiles was subjected to racist comments after being demoted from bronze after the floor final. She has used those experiences as fuel, not least in her ongoing appeal against the decision, which she describes as an attempt at “my peace” and “my justice”. The controversy has only helped her profile: talking to Teen fashionshe said the biggest positive was knowing she “was already a brand and was just continuing to put myself out there.”
Branding and activism have become increasingly closely linked in women’s sports. Both Mitton and Hayday note that sportswomen create powerful identities that can then be used to advocate for various causes. “Because historically there has been more activism than in men’s sports, it’s part of the culture,” Mitton says. “And as soon as someone sets a precedent and you see other people speaking out more, you feel more comfortable with that.”
While male athletes can be constrained by the power of their clubs and corporate sponsors, some female athletes with individual followings have greater influence than the club or league they play for. This year, Caitlin Clark demonstrated how one athlete can transcend her sport and attract large numbers of new fans for the first time, but she also acknowledged her white privilege after Time magazine named her athlete of the year.
It was critical, Clark said in her cover interview, to recognize the foundations and legacy of the Black players of the Women’s National Basketball Association — “to appreciate that, highlight that, talk about that, and then move on by allowing brands and companies to invest in those players. who made this competition incredible”.
As someone with multiple sclerosis, Lina Nielsen recognizes the rise of female athletes’ power on social media to address the issues that matter to them. “I definitely want to use my voice to advocate for MS,” she says. “I’m fortunate that I haven’t had many symptoms that have led to disability, but there are so many people living with disability who are struggling with issues around PIP claims.” She was even invited to the House of Commons after the Olympics to discuss the subject with government figures. “That wouldn’t have happened if I didn’t have a platform.”