Olympics to Fans: Please Stop Tweeting

Excited Olympics attendees have been overwhelming mobile networks, and now the International Olympic Committee is urging spectators to cool it with the texting and tweeting. "Of course, if you want to send something, we are not going to say 'you can't do it', and we would certainly never prevent people," says an IOC spokesperson. "It's just, if it's not an urgent, urgent one, please kind of take it easy." The overloaded network was a particular problem Saturday, when TV coverage of the men's road cycling race was impacted.

Commentators couldn't get vital information about the race, thanks to issues with the GPS' communications network, thus leaving viewers uninformed at times. The IOC spokesperson says the problem was caused by hundreds of thousands of tweeting and texting spectators … and, of course, at-home viewers then tweeted their own disappointment at the problems, Reuters reports. London's mayor warned of this very problem last year, but assured that work was being done to make sure there would be enough coverage in time for the Games. Reuters explains that vast quantities of cable were indeed laid in Olympic Park, meaning most problems are likely to occur at satellite venues. (More 2012 London Olympics stories.)