Twitter blamed for disrupting cycling coverage

The International Olympic Committee has blamed Twitter for disrupting the coverage of the men's road race on Saturday.

Following criticism of the event's broadcasting, in which timing and positions in the form electronic updates failed to reach commentators, the BBC hit out at the Games's broacasters, the OBS.

But the International Olympic Committee said fans sending updates to Twitter while watching the race had in effect jammed transmissions of race information.

Communications director Mark Adams told the Guardian: "From my understanding, one network was oversubscribed, and OBS are trying to spread the load to other providers. We don't want to stop people engaging in this by social media but perhaps they might consider only sending urgent updates."

The updates would have been sent via GPS transmitters mounted on the individual competitors' bikes, which were not received, leading to confusion as to the gaps between the breakaways, and even who had taken third place in the sprint finish.

A spokeswoman for Games organisers Locog said: "There are fixed timing points at the start and finish line, as well as one at Box Hill which Locog provides. These worked well and the result and timing of the race are not in doubt."