Messaging interferes with broadcaster information; IOC asks fans to 'take it easy'

Cycle fans tweeted ‘too much’ during Olympic road cycling race

It’s often said that the cycling world is Twitter-mad, but it seems it has been a bit too eager to Tweet and text during key moments of London 2012, according to the International Olympic Committee (IOC).

The IOC said cycle fans tweeting and texting during the men’s road cycling race on Saturday meant that mobile networks were overloaded and broadcasters had no way of knowing rider positions as the race progressed.

An IOC spokesperson said: “Of course, if you want to send something, we are not going to say ‘don’t, you can’t do it’, and we would certainly never prevent people. It’s just, if it’s not an urgent, urgent one, please kind of take it easy. We don’t want people to stop engaging in social media but we are asking to see if people can send by other means."

Twitter saw over 9million tweets during London 2012’s opening ceremony, exceeding the total amount of tweets for the 2008 Beijing Games in 24 hours.

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