The 10 O’Clock: Which Olympic athletes rule Twitter? And have they earned it?

Every day, the good people at Twitter ship me the latest news from Sochi. They touch on what’s making news, what’s connecting with Twitter users, and which athletes rock.

The Twitter sensation of the Games, it seems, is T.J. Oshie of the St. Louis Blues and Team USA. It’s nothing he’s done on Twitter, of course. It’s really more about the four shootout goals he scored against Russia on the weekend. This guys’s incredible; where did he come from? the Twitterverse asked. We must follow him!

But is it deserved? Well, of course, this helps:

Congrats to T.J. Oshie and the U.S. men's hockey team on a huge win! Never stop believing in miracles. #GoTeamUSA -bo—
The White House (@WhiteHouse) February 15, 2014

The White House has 4.8 million followers. That tweet might well have helped Oshie jump from about 85,000 followers to 241,000 followers pretty much overnight.

But figure Oshie deserves it, He’s tweeted more than 1,600 times. He retweets other people regularly. He’s on Facebook.

He’s modest:

Great experience going on the @TODAYshow !!! Everyone there was very nice and down to earth. Thanks for having me!! #USA—
TJ Oshie (@OSH74) February 17, 2014

He supports the right team:

SEAHAWKS!!!!!!!! Good luck to @DangeRussWilson @MoneyLynch and the rest of the boys. #12s #SB48—
TJ Oshie (@OSH74) February 02, 2014

And he’s got solid B.C. connections:

First time meeting my newest baby cousin Lux at the hotel in Van!!! #precious #LuxyBear http://t.co/eINeVgwM6n—
TJ Oshie (@OSH74) January 10, 2014

Plus, deep thoughts from a fan of Oshie:

TJ Oshie's jersey number is 74. 7/4. Fourth of July. Merica.—
Cloyd Rivers (@CloydRivers) February 17, 2014

In this edition of the 10 O’Clock, we look at the three most popular Olympians on Twitter:

VANCOUVER SUPERSTAR, SOCHI FALLING STAR

Shaun White had an Olympics to forget (though he really was a very good sport), but he can console himself by being the most popular Winter Olympian on Twitter, with more than 1.3 million followers.

After backing out of the Olympics’ inaugural snowboard slopestyle event, White was gracious to the men who medalled, including Regina’s Mark McMorris:

Congrats to @sagekotsenburg @stalesandbech @markmcmorris !!!
#TeamUSA—
Shaun White (@shaun_white) February 08, 2014

He was gracious with his huge legion of fans:

A message to my fans… youtube.com/embed/ESAcrUF7…—
Shaun White (@shaun_white) February 11, 2014

And once home, he was happy to see his buddy Steve White:

Glad to see this guy again #stevewhite @_mayorb http://t.co/k45b9RVWd9—
Shaun White (@shaun_white) February 15, 2014

SPARE BUT POWERFUL TWEETING

This has not been a good Olympics for South Korea. After scoring a record 14 medals at Vancouver 2010, including six gold, they have a grand total of four medals in Sochi.

Which puts immense pressure on Yuna Kim, one of the South Korea’s most celebrated Olympians. She won gold in Vancouver and has won just about everything else. And on Wednesday, she attempts to defend that gold medal — something only Sonja Henie and Katarina Witt have managed to do.

Kim, like many South Korean athletes, is so celebrated that she can’t possibly live in any sort of anonymity. Which is why she has 717,000 followers on Twitter (1,000 more than a day ago), despite the fact that she’s tweeted a grand total of 89 times — including just once in the past three months.

Still, she’s stepped up when it counts the most. Like helping PyeonChang secure the 2018 Olympics:

We made it!!!! :-0!!! Thank you for your support. See you in PyeongChang ;-)—
Yuna Kim (@Yunaaaa) July 06, 2011

And she’s influential. As a UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador, even a rare tweet carries a lot of weight:

Enough. Because for 2 years, millions of #childrenofsyria have suffered unending daily horrors. Enough. uni.cf/17BWgZe #Syria—
Yuna Kim (@Yunaaaa) April 18, 2013

THE GR8 ONE

Then there’s Alex Ovechkin, who’s just behind Kim with 685,000 followers and refers to himself as the “proud captain of the Washington Capitals.”

He appreciates the funny:

Gr8 pic!!!!so sick!! http://t.co/Zex4l81sZG—
Alex Ovechkin (@ovi8) November 12, 2013

And he hangs with fellow Russian players Pavel Datsyuk and Artem Anisimov, as well as fiancee/pro tennis player Maria Kirilenko:

Едем в Сочи!!!! @Anisimov42 @mkirilenko @Datsyuk13 !!!скоро будем на РОДИНЕ!!!!!!@Sochi2014 @sochi2014_ru http://t.co/KE36H5whPH—
Alex Ovechkin (@ovi8) February 09, 2014

THEY WUZ ROBBED!

Finally, the most popular photo on Twitter during the past 24 hours …