Kellie Harrington's gold medal fight was most watched Olympic event on RTÉ
Most ©inpho/ryan Picture: Kellie Watched: Boxing Harrington 60kg Byrne Ireland’s The In Winning Celebrates Category
Kellie Harrington's Olympic gold medal fight against Yang Wenlu was the most watched event of the Paris Games on RTÉ2. 1.4 million tuned in as Harrington made history by becoming the first Irish woman to defend her Olympic title.
The women's 400m final, in which Rhasidat Adeleke came fourth, was the second most watched Olympic event on RTÉ2 with 926,000 sitting down as the 21-year-old agonisingly missed out on a medal.
Another close medal miss, the women's 4x400m relay team of Sophie Becker, Phil Healy, Sharlene Mawdsley and Adeleke finishing fourth in their final was the third most watched event. 910,000 tuned in for what was the final race on the track.
An audience of 790,000 watched as Daniel Wiffen added 1500m freestyle bronze to the 800m gold which he'd won earlier in the swimming programme. For the tension of Rhys McClenaghan's gold medal win on the pommel horse, 629,000 watched while 621,000 were looking on as Mona McSharry claimed 100m breaststroke bronze by the narrowest of margins. 429,000 watched Paul O'Donovan and Fintan McCarthy defend their title in the lightweight men's double sculls.
On the RTÉ Player, there were 7.2 million streams throughout the 19 days of the Games. Across the entire Olympics on RTÉ television, 3.4 million people in Ireland tuned in for at least one minute of the coverage.
"Paris 2024 was a remarkable Olympic Games in every sense with truly unforgettable moments created by the largest ever Irish team," said RTÉ head of sport Declan McBennett.
"The level of engagement from the Irish public was unprecedented for the world's greatest sporting event and RTÉ was privileged to play a part in that across all platforms."
RTÉ director general Kevin Backhurst added: "From the opening ceremony to the homecoming, our job in RTÉ was to ensure the public in Ireland could enjoy and experience all the excitement and spirit of Paris 2024, bringing every moment to our audiences, and in so doing offering a powerful national showcase for the incredible journey of Team Ireland’s 133 athletes - competing across a wider array of sports than ever before – on every platform, around the clock.
"The scale, quality and dynamism of the coverage is testament to the dedication of teams across RTÉ, and to the unique mission of public service media in guaranteeing free-to-air access for national sporting occasions such as this.
"I’d like to congratulate Team Ireland on its exceptional success - Team RTÉ is proud to have played its part in your remarkable Olympic Games.”