IOC refugee olympic team: A content analysis of the official social media accounts of the international olympic committee

This study aims to examine the themes present in the social media posts shared by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) to promote the Refugee Olympic Team (ROT), which was established in 2015 and first participated in the 2016 Rio Olympic Games. Furthermore, by analyzing the comments on these posts, the study seeks to identify public attitudes toward the ROT and determine the general perception of society regarding the team. The research was designed as a case study, and a content analysis method was applied to the posts and comments shared by the IOC on social media platforms. The population of the study consists of 2,368 posts shared on the Refugee Olympic Team's official Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram accounts managed by the IOC, from the dates these accounts were created up to the year 2025. The research design was structured as a case study, employing content analysis as the primary methodological approach. Upon evaluating the findings, it was observed that there has been an increase in the number of athletes on the teams participating in the 2016 Rio, 2020 Tokyo, and 2024 Paris Olympic Games. However, gender equality was not achieved, although there was an increase in the diversity of sports disciplines. It was identified that the majority of athletes acquired refugee status from Germany n (16), and that the most represented sport was Athletics n (14). Among the official social media accounts of the Refugee Olympic Team-Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram-Twitter was found to be the most active platform in terms of content shared between 2016 and 2024, accounting for 36.70% of posts. Due to the Instagram account being launched in 2020, it became the most actively used platform between 2020 and 2024, with 36.50% of the total content shared during that period. Regarding hashtag usage on social media, the most frequently used category was "About Refugees" f (1028), followed closely by "About the Olympics" f (1027). Based on the analysis of public comments, which aimed to determine societal attitudes toward the Refugee Olympic Team, the category "Expressions of Positive Attitude" ranked first f (6501). A majority of the positive comments f (4900) were directed toward individual athletes and teams. Within the positive comments about athletes and teams, the subcategory "Good Luck" ranked first, while among negative comments, the subcategory "Traitor" was noted. In terms of countries, the leading subcategory within positive comments was "I Support Palestine," whereas "I Do Not Support Russia" was the predominant theme among negative comments. Among the IOC's promotional content highlighting individual athletes, Yusra Mardini was featured most frequently f (147); however, user engagement through comments was found to be more directed toward content concerning the Refugee Olympic Team as a whole. Based on the findings of the study, it was observed that the IOC did not emphasize gender equality in the team formation process or in its social media posts. Furthermore, it was concluded that the high level of participation in Athletics and Judo at the 2016 Rio, 2020 Tokyo, and 2024 Paris Games was influenced by the projects carried out by the International Judo Federation (IJF) and the Tegla Loroupe Peace Foundation. Additionally, in line with the Olympic Agenda decisions aimed at promoting youth engagement and sustainability, it was identified that more content was shared on Instagram, a platform actively used by younger audiences. Finally, analysis of comments across all platforms revealed that while the public holds a generally positive attitude toward the Refugee Olympic Team, there is a negative perception of the IOC due to its perceived failure to make fair and balanced decisions regarding Russia, Ukraine, Israel, and Palestine.