London, England — A massive audience of 6.2 million Canadians watched the world’s fastest runner win gold in the men’s 100m final Sunday, powering Day 9 (August 5) to be the most-watched day yet for Canada’s Olympic Broadcast Media Consortium at London 2012.

With an average of nearly 5 million viewers watching from 4:52 – 5:03 p.m. ET on CTV alone, Usain Bolt’s winning race is in line with the record-setting Top 10 (non-hockey) events from Vancouver 2010. Day 9 (Sunday, August 5) becomes the most-watched yet at London 2012 with 2.5 million viewers watching on average over 22 hours of coverage.

Canada’s Olympic Broadcast Media Consortium confirms that audiences for London 2012 continue to out-run Beijing 2008, with viewing increasing by an impressive 87% during Days 7-9. An average of 2.3 millionviewers tuned in throughout the consortium’s 22 hours of daily coverage from Aug. 3-5, including an average audience of 2.9 million viewers in prime time.

Additionally, a whopping 3.6 million viewers tuned into OLYMPIC DAYTIME during Days 7-9, with 4.3 million viewers tuning in to Sunday’s daytime broadcast alone. On CTV, the tape-delayed prime time coverage averaged 2 million viewers, up 43% over CBC’s prime time live/tape-delayed coverage of Beijing 2008 (1.4 million) for the same time period.

From the start of the 2012 Games to date, an incredible 30.5 million Canadians – or 90.7% of the population – has watched some coverage on Consortium channels. Additionally, London 2012 continues to be a wide-reaching event with 92% of all women, 91% of all men and 87% of all children experiencing some part of the 2012 Games on television.

In addition to the men’s athletics 100m final, the top events of London 2012 on the Consortium networks all took place over the weekend. On Canada’s golden Saturday, an average of 2.1 million viewers tuned in as Rosie MacLennan won Canada’s first gold medal of the 2012 Games during the women’s trampoline final.

The men’s 1500m freestyle swimming final averaged 2.8 million viewers as Canada’s Ryan Cochranewon a silver medal, while the women’s team pursuit cycling averaged 2.2 million as Canada won bronze. Additionally, Michael Phelps’ last Olympic race, the men’s 4x100m medley relay, garnered an average audience of more than 2.9 million on Saturday.

Meanwhile, despite only two days of coverage, athletics (16.3 million) is now a close second to swimming (18.6 million) in terms of most-watched sports by unique viewers.

Additional Highlights for Days 7-9:

• Sunday’s men’s athletics 100m final is the top event on both CTV (4.9 million) and V (854,000) of the 2012 Games to date
• TSN achieved its highest audience of the 2012 Games to date on Friday with the Canada/Great Britain women’s soccer quarter-final averaging 841,000 viewers and reaching 2.7 million viewers
• Sportsnet achieved three of its Top 5 most-watched events of the 2012 Games on Days 7-9, led by the women’s athletics 100m semifinal on Saturday with 417,000 viewers
• RDS had four of its Top 5 events of the 2012 Games on Sunday including the women’s 3m springboard final (446,000) and men’s athletics 100m final (426,000)

As Canadians left work for the long weekend, they stayed with Consortium digital coverage of London2012 as Days 7-9 brought 4.3 million video views, 20% higher than the same three days during Vancouver2010. By the end of Day 9, total page views to CTVOlympics.ca, RDSolympiques.ca, and the CTV Olympics London 2012 and RDS olympiques pour Londres 2012 Apps reached 129 million views, pacing 17% higher than Vancouver 2010.

The mobile story continues, as Saturday and Sunday saw the highest days of mobile traffic to digital platforms with almost 70% of digital traffic coming through mobile devices.

Image Courtesy of  José Goulão

The article 6.2 Million Canadians Watch Usain Bolt Win Gold on Day 9 appeared first on The Toonari Post - News, Powered by the People!.

In 2006, 24 year old Justin Gatlin was widely praised and celebrated, holding the title of world’s fastest man.  Back in May 06, he was angry at the decision in which he was made to share the title with Jamaican sprinter Asafa Powell, but things got a lot worst.

That same year as we all know, he was banned from the sport for 4 years for a positive test of a banned substance which he and his trainer claim were applied on him by a massage therapist sponsored by Nike…At this point, that is no longer the story.

This chapter of the story speaks of a second chance at being great and a second attempt at reaching the heights which he once held on that podium in the 2004 olympics.  If you look on the USA track and field website today, there are no sign of any Gatlin stories before the ban was established-but this new chapter in his life is being written every day with perseverance and determination.

It is not clear whether he can or whether he will regain or come close to his gold medal form, but it will not be from a lack of trying.  Gatlin has broken the 10.00 mark in the 100 for the first time in a race since his comeback began and is attempting to win another world championship this year.

In a recent interview, he credits his comeback to the loyal support of his understanding parents who did not let him forget where he wanted to be, which was on that main stage doing what he was born to do; and he made sure to be ready for that opportunity when it finally arrived.

He has been humbled by hours upon hours of recollection, aided by the fact that the sport has survived and has done extremely well without him at the helm… so to speak.  Usain bolt is now the fastest man in the world, breaking all sorts of Olympic and track records while he returns as a former champion looking for a way in and an opportunity.

Justin Gatlin has lost out on endorsements and the potential millions that come along with them, even filing for bankruptcy at some point and also a failed attempt at an NFL career.

It is not all well of course because the once former world’s fastest man can’t compete in all the venues in Europe, who still recognize the ban; but competing anywhere is a privilege right now- like track and field officials have been quoted saying, “he needs to prove himself on the track first before they move forward”.  It is up to Gatlin to make this comeback successful, in fact, this is only the beginning and we are all watching to see what he does next.

The article Justin Gatlin: The Comeback appeared first on The Toonari Post - News, Powered by the People!.