Results London 2012 Olympics

Instagram is going for gold at the 2012 Summer Olympics. Athletes are sharing behind-the-scenes photos that take their followers inside the Games like never before. Fans are posting shots from a wide range of Olympics venues, giving a piece of the experience to others not lucky enough to be in London. Media members are sharing candid pictures too, in addition to their more typical news-gathering duties.

And they’re all ‘Gramming in record numbers. So far, more than 65,000 publicly viewable Instagram photos have been shared from the Olympics, according to the social media tracking tool VenueSeen. More than 25,000 of those have used the #olympics hashtag, and more 10,000 have used #london2012. Olympic Stadium is the venue people have shared from most, followed by the Aquatics Centre and Basketball Arena.

We sifted through VenueSeen’s Olympics Pinterest board to find 12 of the very best shots posted by fans, athletes and media so far.

Among our picks: a breathtaking setting for beach volleyball, fans who take wearing their national pride to a whole new level, some delicious treats, and candid shots of superstars Usain Bolt and Natalie Coughlin.

But Instagram is just one of many social networks affecting the 2012 Olympics in unprecedented ways. The International Olympic Committee launched an athletes’ hub this spring to connect fans with official social profiles of past and current Olympians. The London 2012 organizing committee has used Twitter to share awesome, unexpected shots of competitive events. And two British athletes — diver Tom Daley and weightlifter Zoe Smith — have publicly outed Twitter trolls in dramatic fashion.