FINA, the governing body of water polo, pool swimming, diving, synchronized swimming and open water swimming, announced that 285,282 users visited the
FINA.org website almost 10,000 times per day during the month of August. During the peak days, the number of unique visits per day to its website was nearly 21,500.
During the 9 days of the pool swimming events in Beijing, from August 9-17, the FINA website registered 7,712,148 hits (or an average of 856,906 hits per day or 138,367 unique visits) in total.
The peak day for FINA website traffic was August 11, when America's
Jason Lezak ran down
Alain Bernard of the French team in the epic 400 freestyle relay. 21,000 visitors went to the FINA website.
During the two days of the open water swimming events in Beijing, the FINA website had 742,430 hits on the day
Larisa Ilchenko won the women's
Olympic 10K Marathon Swim and 738,912 hits when
Maarten van der Weijden won the men's
Olympic 10K Marathon Swim.
10KSwimmer makes two observations of this FINA website data:
1. The new Olympic sport of open water swimming was only slightly less popular than the glamour sport of pool swimming: 856,906 hits per day vs. 740,671 hits per day on average.
2.
Ilchenko wins in a website traffic comparison over the men.
Photo of
Ilchenko in Singapore with Valerio Cleri by
Shelley Taylor-Smith.
As the sport of open water swimming grows, there is bound to be bumps in the road. 
We have been frequently asked that question. 
FINA, the governing body of water polo, pool swimming, diving, synchronized swimming and open water swimming, announced that 285,282 users visited the FINA.org website almost 10,000 times per day during the month of August. During the peak days, the number of unique visits per day to its website was nearly 21,500.
Plans for the first World Open Water Swimming Age Group Championships scheduled to be held in Wellington, New Zealand were not approved by FINA.
The last race on the FINA Open Water Swimming Grand Prix circuit takes place in Chiapas, Mexico on October 18th. This extraordinary 15K race cuts through the incredibly scenic Sumidero Canyon (Cañon Sumidero) along the Grijalva River.
The race ends at the Chicoasen hydroelectric dam. The swimmers are treated to a spectacular journey along the serene river with the canyon walls towering above them inside a Ecological Park. Despite the serenity of the park, the racing between the pro swimmers has traditionally been competitive and exciting. As the last race on the annual FINA circuit, FINA Grand Prix points and rankings are up for grabs, creating a great competition.
The week before the Sumidero 15K FINA Grand Prix, the last FINA 10KM Marathon Swimming World Cup is held in Cancun, Mexico on October 11th. Race Director Omar Diaz organizes both races on behalf of the Federacion Mexicana de Natacion and FINA. The host hotel is the beautiful Oasis Palm Beach hotel.
