From the 1968 "black power salute" to Derek Redmond limping across the finish line in his father's arms at the 1992 Barcelona games, some Olympic images live on forever. If an equally powerful image at the 2014 Winter Olympics surfaces in Sochi, you can bet it'll make the rounds on Twitter beforehand.
The microblogging network is doing its part to promote these memorable moments. Twitter created an interactive photo collage depicting the top-tweeted photos from each day of this year's games. Hosted on Github, visitors to the collage can organize the top images by date and country.
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Each morning, Twitter uses its algorithm to determine the most-retweeted and -shared photos from the previous day. The images are then stitched together in an interactive collage, with the most popular images getting the most screen space.
Users can click on an image to see the tweet, or search the top images from six different countries.
The most popular Olympics image so far was this photo of Team USA during the opening ceremony last Friday:
230 athletes, 1 nation. Team USA is ready to represent at the Winter Olympics. pic.twitter.com/8xhsbb3JdM— ESPN (@espn) February 8, 2014
Twitter does not break out the most popular tweets from all countries, but if an image from a country that isn't listed gains significant popularity, it may appear as part of the "Global" list. The site does curate the list, however, which means inappropriate photos could be excluded.
Here are several of the most popular photos from the games, so far.
Big fans come in all sizes. USA, we’re all rooting for you. #Sochi2014 pic.twitter.com/MmBRMVFXmV— Visa (@Visa) February 6, 2014
Did this really happen!? #pinchme #OpeningCeremony #Sochi12014 pic.twitter.com/BjNKGaDpB9— Maria Sharapova (@MariaSharapova) February 7, 2014
Congrats #TeamUSA on your 1st Olympic Gold at the #Sochi2014 Olympic Winter Games! May it be the first of many. pic.twitter.com/GpqnjfFrgq— Visa (@Visa) February 9, 2014
American Sage Kotsenburg wins the first gold medal of the Olympics in slopestyle! And he was stoked about it. pic.twitter.com/VrmszDdNpH— SportsCenter (@SportsCenter) February 9, 2014
In honor of the Sochi Opening Ceremony.. #SochiProblems pic.twitter.com/ZezEO1sPhC— Sochi Problems (@SochiProbIem) February 9, 2014
The Miracle On Ice pic.twitter.com/eRCbjoBEed— Best Sports Pictures (@thesportsphotos) February 9, 2014