The online effort behind this year's Olympic Games is the biggest ever, ranging from broadband video clips on nbcolympics.com, tireless coverage from the likes of ESPN and Yahoo, and even
podcasts and blogs from U.S. Olympic team members. For the first time, Internet users can follow the games live, getting near-instant results even long before the delayed TV broadcasts air. For
sports sites like ESPN and Yahoo Sports, this is one of the biggest online events of the year. The Athens Olympics in August 2004 gave Yahoo its highest traffic month that year, attracting 14 million
users, which led the company to invest more heavily in covering this year's Games. One Yahoo exec said online users want more analysis and more in-depth coverage, which is why the company has hired
five former Olympic athletes as analysts and an Associated Press writer to work exclusively for Yahoo during the Games. The podcasting sector this year is huge, with the U.S. team offering up its own
podcast page with team member interviews, in addition to podcast reports from traditional media outlets like The New York Times and the Associated Press. Meanwhile, NBC is also behind several
blogs, both informal, from Olympic team members and their family members, and formal, from reporters and analysts. Google Earth is also in on the act, providing new high-res maps that allow viewers to
zoom right into the mountains to see the outline of the XX Winter Games.
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