IOC Releases Beijing Facts And Figures

The International Olympic Committee has released the official facts and figures from the Beijing Olympics – the most watched Games in Olympic history.

The IOC stated that the Beijing Olympics was broadcast to more people in more regions than ever before with 4.5bn people tuning in around the world to either TV or online coverage of the event.

This included record TV ratings in US and China – in particular the Opening Ceremony which attracted an 80% share of audience in China and 50% in the US.

In the UK, 40m people – 70% of the viewing population – had tuned in to the BBC’s coverage by the end of the second week.

In addition the IOC’s official Olympic website attracted more visitors in the first week than during entire 2004 Games. The site received over 5m unique visitors during the first week of competition compared to 2.8m unique visitors during the whole of the 2004 Olympics.

There were also 16.5m views on IOC’s digital channel on YouTube across Africa, Asia and the Middle East.

The IOC also stated that a record 204 National Olympic Committees participated in the Games including a record number of women participating. 132 Olympic records were broken as well as 43 world records.
 
 Doping challenges were also met with nearly 40 cheaters caught before the Games, 4 cheaters caught by IOC during Games. There was also a record number of athletes tested under stringent new testing requirements.

Concerns over air quality in Beijing were also met. Competition opened on second consecutive day of Grade I air quality, a decade-long record for Beijing

In the other 8 days, Beijing’s air quality was Grade II, which still fell well within WHO and IOC standards.