• by October 5, 2000

It's official. The 2000 Sydney Olympic Games will go down in history for stunning athletic accomplishments, astounding state of the art facilities, and comprehensive Internet coverage enhanced by a number of unique advertising sponsorships that allow fans worldwide the chance to experience the Games like never before.

The Official Site of the 2000 Olympic Games (www.olympics.com) is leading the way on the Internet with 8.7 million unique visitors between September 13 and October 1, 2000.

Both official Olympic sponsors and Internet-based companies are participating on olympics.com with engaging online sponsorships that augment the global site's all-encompassing coverage, a first in Olympic history.

"Sponsors on olympics.com are capitalizing on one of the most powerful global interactive marketing opportunities ever offered on the Internet," said Richy Glassberg, chairman and CEO of Phase2Media, a leading Internet advertising sales and marketing organization retained by the Sydney Organising Committee for the Olympic Games (SOCOG). "They are taking advantage of a true global forum. The opportunity to amplify their brand message simultaneously to billions of people throughout the world in association with the Olympic Games is a marketing milestone."

Here's how they do it: - LifeMinders is delivering the first ever Olympic Games Electronic Daily newsletter for visitors and fans who register at www.olympics.com. The daily, customized newsletters feature the latest news, results, athlete profiles and behind the scenes reports and updates from Sydney.

- LookSmart, Official Provider of Search and Directory for olympics.com, created and is maintaining a comprehensive, custom-built directory of Olympic-related websites featuring 13 different categories including News and Guides, Olympic Athletes, the Paralympic Games and future Olympic Games.

- Lycos, the official community and chat provider, is the exclusive host for all Olympic athlete chats. Lycos created and is maintaining more than 230 fan clubs, including a fan club for every competing nation and all Olympic sports, as well as chats, message boards and polls.

Additionally, official Olympic sponsors featured on the site include:

- Texaco, an official sponsor of the 2000 U.S. Olympic Team, has adapted the company's brand image campaign for its first on-line advertising effort around its new Olympic website. The brand image campaign has a number of interactive features. For example, users can download a wallpaper screen of their favorite Olympic sport, test their lung-power against that of an Olympic water polo player, or watch video clips of the U.S. men's gymnastic team in action.

- Visa U.S.A. is extending its sponsorship of the Sydney 2000 Olympic Games through banner advertisements as well as Visa-sponsored content on olympics.com. Visa is the preferred payment card in international markets and the exclusive payment card for transactions originating wit