The Socialympics: Military athletes’ Twitter feeds, Instagram pics offer unique view into 2012 games - Off Duty, Sports, Hunting, Fishing - Navy Times

The Socialympics: Military athletes’ Twitter feeds, Instagram pics offer unique view into 2012 games

Marine Sgt. Jamel Herring finishes a sweaty round of hammering away at the speed bag and grabs his iPhone. Ringside as two U.S. boxing teammates spar, he’s working angles and taking shots of an entirely different kind.

He’s the U.S. Olympic boxing team captain, a welterweight contender for a gold medal in London’s Summer Games — and the snap-happy self-appointed team Instagrammer.

He’s just one of several military athletes offering fleeting windows into their Olympic journeys through social media.

For the uninitiated, Instagram is where social media meets photography, a kind of Twitter for shutterbugs. With 50 million users, the photo-sharing favorite was recently bought by Facebook for a reported $1 billion.

“I love it,” gushed Herring during team training camp at the Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs, Colo. He’s posted hundreds of photos in the past few weeks. Many are simple smiling snapshots of friends and teammates, but others offer more intimate behind-the-scene glimpses of training and travel on the road to the Summer Games.

At least one athlete has learned the hard way to regret her social media postings. Greek triple jumper Voula Papachristou cut her trip to London short after mocking African immigrants on Twitter. The resulting uproar prompted Greek officials to kick her off the team July 25.

Most athletes, however, just chronicle their daily lives in the spotlight of the world’s biggest athletic stage.

Army Sgt. Glenn Eller, U.S. shooting team double trap shooter, has been tweeting through his workups to London.

“This feels like I’m waiting for my 21st birthday, except it is legal to practice,” Eller tweeted two days before he was slated to fly to London.

“You know I’m excited if I’m packing more than 3 minutes before walking out the door,” he offered two days later, along with the hashtag #needabiggersuitcase.

Army Greco-Roman wrestler Spc. Justin Lester has taken to Twitter with regular updates, as well, sometimes with the occasional bold promise. “Off 2 London tmrw!” he posted July 22. “Thx for the prayers and support! Nxt time I’m on American soil, I’ll have a nice shiny gold medal around my neck!”