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A gay dating website crashed within minutes of the first Olympic athletes arriving in London – due to the volume of demand, say experts.

The Grindr app enables gay men to obtain the locations of potential homosexual partners.

Technicians believe the arrival of Olympic teams on Monday sparked a flood of new customers – and loss of the service in East London.

One Londoner said: “It happened almost as soon as the teams got here. Either loads of athletes were logging on to meet fellow Olympians or were looking to bag a local.

“The Grindr system obviously couldn’t cope. It took 24 hours for the app to get back up and running, much to the relief of all concerned.”

The site was launched in 2009 and claims to have four million customers worldwide.

London is the most popular city for the app, with 350,000 registered users. The website ­advertises itself as a way to find “a new date, ­buddy or friend”.

Founder Joel Simkhai said in Los Angeles: “I want to personally ­apologize to users.

“I know it was ­frustrating. I was ­frustrated myself. I also rely on Grindr in my day-to-day personal life. It made me feel disconnected.

“Our tech team worked around the clock to solve the problems and to whip Grindr back into shape.”