MILAN, Feb 4 (Reuters) - The International Olympic Committee's relaxed social media rules have prompted a new golden age for athlete influencers ahead of the Milano Cortina Games, where delegations and competitors will scramble to reach the next generation of fans.
Cortina d'Ampezzo ushered in a broadcast revolution the last time the Games came to town in 1956, becoming the first Olympics televised to a multi-nation audience.
Seven decades later, short-form videos on platforms like TikTok, Instagram
and YouTube are king in the Queen of the Dolomites to capture a coveted Gen Z audience.
"They're not going to be sitting down to a television every night and turning on NBC the way that my generation is used to doing," said Andrea Geurin, a clinical professor at NYU's Tisch Institute for Global Sport.
"It's become very fragmented, and so sport organisations like the IOC or like the USOPC (U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committee) have to be able to reach fans in so many different avenues now."
The IOC made that easier when it lifted restrictions on what athletes could post to social media ahead of the 2024 Summer Games in Paris, permitting audio and video recordings from the Olympic village, competition venues and training areas.
"It completely opened up the opportunity for athletes to finally tell their story in their words in a way that had never been done before," said Ramsey Baker, a senior vice president at Aggregate Sports and former executive director of U.S. Figure Skating.
"Athletes were able to kind of invite their closest followers into what their day was like being an Olympian."
The "Team USA Creators" programme for the Paris Games saw 20 social media creators generate roughly 100 million views publishing content in partnership with the USOPC.
The USOPC is bringing the programme back this year, with athletes including rugby star Ilona Maher and gymnastics gold medallist Laurie Hernandez joining social media gurus like Owen Han - who has 4.5 million followers on TikTok - in creating content for Team USA.
"Creator partnerships have become one of our go-to marketing tactics, especially when it comes to reaching new and younger Team USA fans," said George Fiddler, senior director of integrated and athlete marketing at the USOPC.
One of those creators, U.S. Olympic gymnast Frederick Richard, said his follower count nearly doubled across Instagram and TikTok in the week after he won bronze at the Paris Games.
Richard told Reuters he was in a unique position to collaborate with athletes in Milano Cortina, with a keen understanding of how to navigate complex social media rules alongside the pressure of competition.
While the IOC has loosened its social media restrictions, it does not allow video of competition, live video or video that is longer than two minutes per post.
"I feel very comfortable in this world, I understand it and I understand their (the athletes') perspective so well because I am one of them," said Richard, who has amassed more than 40 million likes on TikTok.
"My job is to try to help get the eyes on them without them having to do that work."
(Reporting by Amy Tennery in New York; Editing by Ken Ferris)
