The explosion in hits has made the Sydney games the most popular event ever on the Internet and coincides with lower than expected television viewing figures in the United States.

"The total number of hits to date is 7.2 billion. We have not revised our estimate because we are so far past the original one, but itwill be a huge number,'' Mr Craig Lowder, a spokesman for Olympics sponsors IBM, said on Tuesday.

The Nagano winter Olympics two years ago attracted 634 million hits, while the 1996 games at Atlanta managed 187 million, Mr Lowder pointed out. The time difference between Sydney and Europe and the United States means people seeking news and results have logged on to the Internet rather than wait for delayed television broadcasts.

Mr Lowder said one of the attractions of the official site, especially for people living in places such as the East coast of the United States which is 15 hours behind Sydney, was that it provided real-time scores for 11 Sports.

"When they score in basketball the score changes on the screen,'' he said.The Internet success contrasts sharply with disappointing American television figures.

According to preliminary estimates from Nielsen Media Research, NBC's prime-time package of taped Olympic highlights last Tuesday was watched by just over 15.6 million US households.

NBC is believed to have forecast between 17.64 and 18.64 million households to its advertisers.

Mr Lowder said the official site (www.Olympics.com) had not crashed at any time despite the massive demand.

"From our measurements, the official site has been available from the start,'' he said, adding demand in some places could have slowed down local Internet providers.

Leading Internet audience measurement service Nielsen//netratings said men and women were visiting the site in equal numbers.

IBM started counting hits when the Olympic soccer competition started, two days before the opening ceremony on September 15.

IBM has also set up www.Ibm.com/fanmail for anyone wanting to send e-mails to any of the 10,500 athletes competing in Sydney.