The Olympic Games sell itself, right? Nope. Alex Balfour, Head of New Media for the London Organising Committee of the Olympic and Paralympic Games (LOCOG), promises to bring the latest social platforms to mankind’s oldest sporting event, a topic he will be discussing in greater depth at the Social Media Influence conference on June 22.

To be sure, this won’t be the first time social media plays a central role in the People’s Games. Vancouver’s 2010 Winter Olympics made major headway by connecting fans, athletes and organizers through Facebook and YouTube (though the International Olympic Committee at times tried to stifle a good deal of the “unauthorized” enthusiasm for the Games). The Vancouver 2010 Facebook page had over 1.5 million fans at its height and a variety of social mini-games too, plus its YouTube “The Best of Us” challenge had thousands of participants and millions of views.

Can London hope to improve on that?

So far it’s looking like the new London Games could challenge for the gold. There is word of 43 different digital media projects underway to bring the Olympic experience to fans around the world including social media integration with corporate sponsors like Adidas. In a recent blog post, Balfour said:

We believe new media can do more than simply communicate. We have always said that London 2012 would be ‘everyone’s Games’ and we want to use new media to help you truly share and participate public in the Games, and, of course, have some fun.

To help us get into the competitive spirit, Balfour (pictured at left) and his team have created a series of inspirational videos illustrating sport (a rather British interpretation, mind you) through its animated Olympic mascots, Wenlock and Mandeville. Also planned are video and photo contests on the official London 2012 YouTube and Flickr accounts. Mobile too is expected to play a big part in connecting fans at the events with their vast networks back home or at the office. In two years time there’s no telling what the innovations in mobile-social interplay will mean for fans.

Editor’s Note: Want to learn more about social media best practice and hear Balfour in person discuss the challenge of bringing the Games to every corner of the world through social media? Join us at Social Media Conference, June 22. Members of our LinkedIn Group enjoy a great discount.