Young spectators show their true colors at the London Games on July 31, 2012. [Photo/Agencies]

After winning the first gold medal of the Olympic Games on Saturday, shooter Yi Siling posted a photo of herself holding a bouquet on her Chinese Tencent Weibo micro blog.

Her tweet created a huge splash. About 5,000 users added her every minute for the first few minutes, and the number of followers grew almost instantly from 100,000 to 800,000. It now stands at 940,000.

"That's amazing," said Wang Yongzhi, who heads the Olympic program for Tencent, which boasts more than 400 million micro-bloggers.

About half of the 396 Chinese athletes in London have a weibo account, Wang said. The numbers of followers have been skyrocketing since the opening ceremony on Friday.

Tencent's competitor, Sina Weibo - widely recognized as China's answer to twitter - also provided its micro-blogging service to hundreds of Olympians, including Sun Yang, China's star swimmer who won the men's 400m freestyle and a silver in the 200m. He now has more than 8.8 million followers.

Social media have proven a game-changer for Chinese athletes, who traditionally kept low profiles.

"Weibo provides a good and free tool for Chinese athletes to communicate with friends, teammates and even strangers," Wang said. "They're young and love weibo. It's fashionable and more interactive than traditional media."

Wang pointed to the women's 3m synchronized diving golden girls, Wu Minxia and He Zi, as good examples.

The duo talked to each other on weibo ahead of the Games, offering encouraging words online although they spent almost every day together. And thousands of followers also commented on their chats.

"We can see them chat and encourage each other on weibo after winning the gold," Wang said. "They love the exposure weibo provides and to get everyone involved."

He Zi called micro-blogging "fun".

"It's so interesting," He said. "It's convenient and free. Sometimes, writing is easier and makes me more comfortable than saying something under the spotlight."

Chinese women's water polo athlete Ma Huanhuan said athletes spend lots of time reading and following news on weibo.

"We can't do much in the Olympic Village," she said.

"All of us use weibo. We can't understand English in the newspapers and on TV, so weibo is the best way to find information and kill time."

Wang said the reason so many athletes use weibo is that it has become one of the most effective platforms for self-promotion to enhance their value.

"Star athletes like (hurdler) Liu Xiang find weibo is the best way to promote themselves and increase their social worth," Wang said. "More followers translate into more potential commercial value."

Gymnast Feng Zhe, who helped China defend its men's team Olympic title on Monday, also became a hit due to his witty and heartfelt postings. That is in sharp contrast to his cautious and shy behavior in front of the camera.

Renmin Univerisity of China journalism professor Yu Guoming explained: "Chinese athletes are generally intimidated by media because they are aware of the media's power. So, they aren't willing to talk too much, for fear the media could distort their actual meaning. But they feel safer on weibo. And they love to express themselves in a brand new way."

Non-Chinese superstar athletes' agencies are also opening and running Chinese weibo accounts.

Jamaican star sprinter Usain Bolt has about 690,000 Twitter followers. But his Tencent Weibo account - opened by his agency to explore the Chinese market - has 2.1 million.

A team has followed him to London to update his weibo in Chinese throughout the Games.

US basketball star Dwyane Wade also has a Sina Weibo account and updates in English. It now has more than 1.8 million followers - half the number of followers he has on Twitter.

Chinese fans also view weibo as the best way to get the fastest Games updates.

"I've followed several athletes on Chinese weibo, and it has shown me a different way to watch the Games," said Beijinger Han Yu, who is studying at the University of Southampton. "In other words, I'm not only getting the objective information from the media but also know about how the players feel about the Olympics from their own point of view."

Zhe Li of the University of Cambridge uses the alerts system created by Sina Weibo to know when a gold medal is awarded with a ring.

"It's great for people who can't simultaneously watch multiple matches," Zhe said.

Contact the writer at chenxiangfeng@chinadaily.com.cn.

chenxiangfeng@chinadaily.com.cn