In the age of social media, sometimes Twitter is faster than the Olympic Committee when it comes to informing athletes that they've qualified for London. 2008 Olympic gold medalist Ricky Berens experienced this firsthand today, after the news of Michael Phelps dropping the 200-meter freestyle reached him through Phelps' coach, Bob Bowman.
Having finished third in an event where only the top two qualify in trials, Beren's path to London was cleared when Phelps bowed out.
This isn't the first instance of someone getting big news from all the wrong places either. Back in December of last year, Oakland Athletics pitcher Craig Breslow found out he'd been traded to Arizona via Twitter.