QUOKKA SPORTS' WIRED WHITBREAD COVERAGE HAS COMPANY ON RISE

          With the '97-98 Whitbread Round The World Race nearing
     its conclusion, a "little Internet company named Quokka
     Sports has covered the race like never before," according to
     Michael Meyer of NEWSWEEK.  Meyer calls S.F.-based Quokka "a
     company to watch," as they implement plans to "digitize" a
     variety of sporting events "so they can be broadcast on the
     Internet in a new way to far larger audiences than ever
     before."  For the Whitbread, the competing boats "have
     essentially been turned into floating media labs," complete
     with laptops, digital video cameras, microphones and
     satellite telecommunications.  Boat crews are constantly
     submitting "whole libraries of data about themselves" which
     Quokka then posts at its Whitbread site, www.whitbread.org. 
     The site receives nearly a million visits a day, from 177
     countries.  Quokka President Alan Ramadan said the company
     will next launch an Internet Sailing Channel and that it
     "hopes to cover" the Tour de France as well as Formula One
     auto races next year.  A "fully wired" Everest ascent is
     "also in the works" (NEWSWEEK, 5/6 issue).