As the 2012 Olympics commence in London this week, you have more options than ever before to follow Ryan Lochte or Michael Phelps as they battle it out for the gold… or golds as the case may be. You may not be able to see Usain Bolt zoom right in front of you if you couldn’t make it to London, but you can follow him on Twitter and watch his every cyber-move.

The Social Media Olympics

Want to find out what your favorite athletes are up to? Try The Olympic Athletes’ Hub.

The ultimate all-in-one social media site for the Olympics allows you to quickly find social media connections to your favorite athlete, team/country, sport, event, or game.

After you’ve done all the liking and following your fingers can manage, head check out their Olympic Challenge while you’re on The Olympic Athletes’ Hub site. You’ll be taken to a Facebook page where you can make predictions such as “will Serena and Venus Williams defend their women’s tennis double title.” When Serena and Venus complete their event, the results are compiled with other players and you can (hopefully) climb the leaderboard.

A New Spectator Seat

Want to be part of the Olympics via an internet connection?

NBC LiveExtra incorporates a service allowing spectators to view a plethora of events and games online via tablets, laptops, and smartphones. The catch? You need to have a subscription to a cable or satellite service such at Comcast, Time Warner, or DirectTV which includes CNBC and MSNBC in your subscription package.

Visit their FAQ page for more details and to see how you can stream the Olympics on any of your device.

Though many other sites exist to watch the Olympics online, NBC LiveExtra is the most reliable and offers the greatest variety of content. If you don’t have a subscription which supports NBC LiveExtra, there’s always YouTube the next day.

Happy 2012 Olympics!