Forget swimming, it’s all about weightlifting

Grant Hackett’s 1500m swim may have managed an average audience of 2.55m but it wasn’t the biggest single audience for a sporting event so far this Olympics.That title goes to Women’s Weightlifting.

Yep, the Women’s 48kg Weightlifting on Saturday August 9 won by Chinese athlete Chen Xiexia nabbed 2.70m viewers. Maybe we should be putting more money into our weightlifting team?

The truth is probably more that the weightlifting just happened to be on at 8:20pm on the first night of competition, rather than specific interest in the sport. After all, who has any idea what event Seven will show when?

Seven has released details of its audience figures between August 9 and 17. The list below shows how the Top 50 individual events stack up:

Days 1-9 (9 August to 17 August)
Telecast Time (Times based on Eastern Standard Time (eg: 1400-1414 in Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane is 1330-1345 in Adelaide and 1200-1215 in Perth)
Telecast Date
Metro Audience

1. Weightlifting – Women’s 48kg
2019-2027
Sat 9 Aug 2008
2,701,000

2
Rowing – Women’s Coxless Pairs Repecharge
2027-2029
Tue 12 Aug 2008
2,693,000

3
Rowing – Men’s Eight Final
1929-1936
Sun 17 Aug 2008
2,679,000

4
Rowing – Men’s Lightweight Double Sculls Repecharge
2019-2021
Tue 12 Aug 2008
2,653,000

5
Rowing – Women’s Quad Sculls Repecharge
2025-2027
Tue 12 Aug 2008
2,651,000

6
Rowing – Men’s Eight Repecharge
2001-2010
Tue 12 Aug 2008
2,602,000

7
Swimming – Replay Women’s 4x200m Freestyle Relay Final
2033-2043
Thu 14 Aug 2008
2,572,000

8
Replay Women’s 4x200m Freestyle Relay Medal Ceremony (Aust Gold)
2043-2046
Thu 14 Aug 2008
2,554,000

9
Swimming – Men’s 1500m Final (with G Hackett)
1211-1235
Sun 17 Aug 2008
2,551,000

10
Swimming – Women’s 100m Butterfly Heats 4-7
2104-2113
Sat 9 Aug 2008
2,550,000

11
Medal Ceremony – Men’s C1 (with Robin Bell)
2014-2019
Tue 12 Aug 2008
2,518,000

12
Swimming – Men’s 4x100m Medley Relay Final (with M Phelps)
1304-1314
Sun 17 Aug 2008
2,502,000

13
Women’s 4x100m Freestyle relay
1326-1336
Sun 10 Aug 2008
2,479,000

14
Travis Nederpelt interview
2057-2058
Sat 9 Aug 2008
2,476,000

15
Gymnastics – Women’s Individual Vault Final
2052-2127
Sun 17 Aug 2008
2,474,000

16
Swimming – Women’s 200m Breaststroke Heats 4-6
2132-2146
Wed 13 Aug 2008
2,458,000

17
Gymnastics – Women’s Team Final
2019-2037
Wed 13 Aug 2008
2,455,000

18
Swimming – Men’s Butterfly, Heat 6 (with M Phelps)
2131-2136
Mon 11 Aug 2008
2,451,000

19
Gymnastics – Men’s Team Final
2031-2050
Tue 12 Aug 2008
2,450,000

20
Rowing – Men’s Fours Heat 3
2011-2018
Sat 9 Aug 2008
2,436,000

21
Cycling – Men’s Kirin Round 1 (with Ryan Bayley)
1956-1959
Sat 16 Aug 2008
2,433,000

22
Swimming – Men’s 1500m Medal Ceremony
1256-1301
Sun 17 Aug 2008
2,433,000

23
Cycling – Men’s Sprint, Round 1 (with R Bayley)
1922-1927
Sun 17 Aug 2008
2,433,000

24
Swimming – Men’s 400m Freestyle Heat 5 (with Grant Hackett)
2138-2144
Sat 9 Aug 2008
2,423,000

25
Swimming – Women’s 100m Breastroke Heats 6-7 (Heat 7 with Leisel Jones)
2139-2147
Sun 10 Aug 2008
2,412,000

26
Swimming – Men’s 400m Individual Medley Heats 2-4
2038-2058
Sat 9 Aug 2008
2,404,000

27
Swimming – 4x100m Women’s Medley Relay
1244-1256
Sun 17 Aug 2008
2,399,000

28
Swimming – Women’s 100m Freestyle, Heats 5-7
2044-2053
Wed 13 Aug 2008
2,397,000

29
Swimming – Men’s 100m Freestyle Heats 8-9
2053-2059
Tue 12 Aug 2008
2,392,000

30
Swimming – Men’s 200m Backstroke, Heat 4 (with Hayden Stoeckel) and Heats 5-6
2105-2118
Wed 13 Aug 2008
2,392,000

31
Athletics – Men’s 100m Final
1841-1844
Sun 17 Aug 2008
2,391,000

32
Sailing – Men’s 49ers Final
1856-1859
Sun 17 Aug 2008
2,387,000

33
Brenton Rickard Interview
1311-1312
Sun 10 Aug 2008
2,381,000

34
Swimming – Women’s 400m Individual Medley Heat 4 (with Stephanie Rice)
2207-2215
Sat 9 Aug 2008
2,376,000

35
Gymnastics – Men’s Floor Final
2000-2034
Sun 17 Aug 2008
2,371,000

36
Swimming – Men’s 200m Freestyle Heats 6-8
2113-2124
Sun 10 Aug 2008
2,370,000

37
Women’s 400m Individual Medley Medal Ceremony (with Stephanie Rice)
1319-1323
Sun 10 Aug 2008
2,369,000

38
Athletics – Women’s 100m Hurdles, Heat 3
2133-2139
Sun 17 Aug 2008
2,365,000

39
Men’s 100m Breastroke Semi Final 2
1313-1316
Sun 10 Aug 2008
2,364,000

40
Rowing – Women’s Eight Final
1910-1917
Sun 17 Aug 2008
2,363,000

41
Swimming – Men’s 100m Freestyle Semi-Final 1-2 (with E Sullivan)
2008-2012
Wed 13 Aug 2008
2,362,000

42
Medal Ceremony for Men’s Double Sculls (Aust Gold)
1944-1949
Sat 16 Aug 2008
2,360,000

43
Swimming – Men’s 50m Freestyle Heats 11-13 (Heat 13 with E Sullivan)
2054-2101
Thu 14 Aug 2008
2,359,000

44
Rowing – Men’s Quad Sculls Final
1849-1856
Sun 17 Aug 2008
2,353,000

45
Swimming – Men’s 400m Freestyle Heat 3
2127-2132
Sat 9 Aug 2008
2,351,000

46
Cycling – Women’s Individual Pursuit, Heat 3 (with Kate Mactier) and Heat 4
2018-2027
Sat 16 Aug 2008
2,344,000

47
Interview with Eamon Sullivan
2130-2131
Tue 12 Aug 2008
2,337,000

48
Women’s 4x100m Freestyle relay interview
1339-1340
Sun 10 Aug 2008
2,327,000

49
Stephanie Rice Interview
1254-1257
Sun 10 Aug 2008
2,323,000

50
Replay Medal Ceremony – Women’s 200m IM (S Rice Gold)
1937-1941
Wed 13 Aug 2008
2,323,000

Source: Seven