Strong interest in aquatics at the recent Beijing 2008 Olympic Games was demonstrated by high degrees of visits to the FINA website during the month of August. Statistics show the website experienced a total of 15,612,101 hits during the Olympic month, equaling 285,282 users. This equates to an average of almost 21,000 hits per hour, or almost 10,000 visits per day. On peak days however, hits per hour reached almost 70,000, and visits per day almost 21,500.
The most noticeable period of increased activity was during the swimming programme of the Olympic Games from August 9-17. During these nine days, the FINA site registered a total of 7,712,148 hits, or 138,367 visits, which is almost half (48.5%) of the total visitor statistics registered for the month.
The peak date, in fact, was August 11, 2008; the day of the epic men’s 4x100m freestyle Olympic final. The FINA site welcomed over 21,000 visitors that day, when veteran American swimmer Jason Lezak dethroned 100m freestyle world record holder Alain Bernard (FRA) in the last 50 metres of his leg with a stunning time of 46.06; the fastest in history. This feat not only anchored the USA quartet to the Olympic title, but also allowed Michael Phelps to continue his ultimately successful quest for eight gold medals. Swimming fever had arrived.
Elevated traffic on the FINA site would continue for the remainder of the month and until the closing of the Olympic Games. These statistics are favourable and encouraging, as they are clear indicators of the level of global attention that is paid to the aquatic sports during the Games, and the importance of the FINA sports to the visibility of the Olympics worldwide.