ALMOST 1.5 MILLION people tuned into watch Kellie Harrington’s lightweight boxing final at the Olympic Games in Paris on RTÉ 2 television last week, according to new figures released by the broadcaster.

Over the three-week event and over 250 hours of coverage of Games, a total of 3.4 million people watched the coverage on RTÉ 2 television while the events were streamed 7.2 million times on the RTÉ player.

Team Ireland had its most successful Olympic Games this year, bagging seven medals in boxing, swimming, rowing and gymnastics. 

Harrington’s gold-medal win in the lightweight boxing final last week was the most-watched event across both RTÉ television and the RTÉ Player over the course of the games.

Rashidat Adeleke’s 400m final, Daniel Wiffin’s bronze-medal finish in the 1500m swimming competition, Rhys McClenegan’s gold-medal win in the pommel horse final and the 400m women’s relay in athletics, were the most-streamed events, respectively.

Over 926,000 people tuned in to watch Adeleke’s final and 910,000 people caught the 400m women’s relay final on RTÉ 2 television.

RTÉ’s Group Head of Sport, Declan McBennett and the broadcaster’s boss Kevin Bakhurst have welcomed the glowing report card and have expressed pride in the team’s ability to deliver the coverage.

Other stand-out events included Mona McSharry’s bronze-medal swim, which peaked at 621,000 viewers, and Fintan McCarthy and Paul O’Donovan’s back-to-back Olympic-winning performance in the lightweight rowing was seen by an audience of 429,000.