While he did not name anyone, Lord Coe said he found it “bizarre” that athletes choose to post inane comments on social media sites when they should be preparing for “the most important moment” in their career.

According to the Telegraph, seaking on Radio 5 Live’s Sportsweek programme, the chairman of the British Olympic Association said that he has always found quite a high correlation between people that spend their times in competition texting and tweeting and under-performance.

He said that he can’t imagine why one would want to be doing that when, at the most important moment in their career, with people telling the world about their new haircut or a new movie seen.

He admitted that social media sites like Twitter and Facebook were a “very important vehicle” in communicating with young people and “getting them excited in sport” in the run-up to the London 2012 games, the report said.

He said that the misuse of the site by athletes can lead to distraction.

Lord Coe did not name athletes, but members of the British athletics team have got into trouble in the past for Tweeting.

Phillips Idowu, the triple jumper who failed to win a medal in the London games, angered his management when he withdrew from last year’s European Team Championships on Twitter.

Some athletes have admitted that social media sites cost them dear in last summer’s games.

According to the report, Emily Seebohm, the Australian swimmer who was favourite for an Olympic gold in the 100m backstroke but narrowly missed out on the medal, admitted that she stayed up too long on Twitter and Facebook in the lead-up to the games.