More than half-way through the 2008 Beijing Olympics, U.S. fans are continuing to follow the Games online in strong numbers, Nielsen Online reported Wednesday.

The top two U.S.-based Olympics online destinations, Yahoo Olympics and NBC Olympics, drew an average of 4.7 million and 4.3 million unique visitors each day between August 8 and August 18.

According to Nielsen, Olympics-related websites in the U.S. are drawing slightly larger audiences on work days than weekends. 

Nielsen also reported that daily traffic to NBC’s Olympics site typically peaked at noon during the first work week of the Games (August 11 – 15), as U.S. fans logged on during their lunch hours to check for news and updates.

View the full press release.

Read the Los Angeles Times’ coverage of Nielsen’s findings.