Usain Bolt's heroic performance and three medals for the home team have allured more fans to watch the 12th world athletics championships in Berlin, German organizers said on Monday.
Organizers said that 142,259 fans came to the Olympic Stadium on Saturday and Sunday, while 140,000 visited the KulturStadion fanzone at the iconic Brandenburg gate where the race walks were also held.
German ZDF television recorded a rating of 33.4 percent (almost 10 million viewers) for Bolt's amazing run to the 100m world record of 9.58 seconds on Sunday night, the biggest TV audience ever in Germany for a major sprint final.
The fans also delighted in silver medals for heptathlete Jennifer Oeser and shot putter Nadine Kleinert, plus a bronze for shot putter Ralf Bartels. German athletes had won just one medal overall, a bronze, at the Beijing Olympics last year.
Organizers said they have so far sold 336,000 of the 500,000 tickets available for the worlds which run until Sunday.
(Xinhua News Agency August 18, 2009)