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Kiosk project brings fans, Olympic athletes closer

February 12, 2002

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SALT LAKE CITY, Utah - The 2002 Winter Olympics are less than a week old, but already more than 1 million well-wishers have sent e-mails to athletes competing at the games thanks to an interactive kiosk project developed by Gateway Inc. (NYSE:GTW).

Through Gateway's CyberSpot kiosks, located at more than 325 locations nationally, people have been encouraged to use the e-mail and video messaging services at each kiosk to send messages to Olympic athletes. The company placed a pair of CyberSpot stations, featuring 50 computer kiosks, at the Olympic Village on the University of Utah campus. Athletes can use the kiosks to surf the Internet, play games, and receive e-mails.

According to Gateway, former President Clinton, United States Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle, and actors Michael J. Fox and Chris Turner are among those who have sent messages to Olympic athletes.

The volume of e-mails reached the 1 million mark on Feb. 12, just five days after the initiative started on the eve of the opening ceremonies. Greg Seremetis, Gateway senior manager of Olympic sponsorship, said the volume was 20 times greater than expected, but that the system was functioning well.