Athletes enthuse over net

After a hard day at the track athletes relax online

The internet has proved to be one of the hidden success stories of the 2002 Commonwealth Games.

Athlete demand for internet access has been unprecedented, according to Microsoft, which is providing the technology to power the Manchester Games.

Since free web access was set up in the Athletes Village a fortnight ago, 13,000 people have used it with an average of 1,400 logging on each day.

Bizarre requests

Many of the athletes are first time users of the net.

"One Lesotho relay runner had never seen a computer before in real life. We set up her hotmail account and sent a message to her with a question about the Games," said Marketing Manager at Microsoft Laura Hoyle.

"She was simply over the moon when she received it and could send back the right answer," she said.

Some of the surfing has been somewhat bizarre, such as a competitor from the Kingdom of Tonga who turned to the web to find himself a generator.

A brand new one is due to arrive back in Tonga about the same time as him and he is delighted to have saved several thousand pounds by buying it here rather than at home.

The Kenyan team visited the centre to investigate the possibility of buying a tractor online.

Winning trunks?

Internet access is also helping some teams reach for gold.

The Nigerian swimming team were determined to find a complete new set of trunks online after seeing new, more streamlined trunks being worn by competitors.

"Being able to obtain these 'special' trunks was really important to the team," said Customer Service Manager Jeanette Allom-Hill.

"I like to think that being able to help out may mean the difference between silver and gold," she said.