Oscar Pistorius defeat draws nearly 4.2m

The South African sprinter is among the faces of London 2012, but he lost out in one of his favourite disciplines to Brazilian rival Alan Oliveira under the floodlights of the Olympic Stadium.

The race was seen by a high of 4.17m (16.44%) over a five-minute period from 9.40pm, according to overnight Barb figures supplied by Attentional.

It was the biggest sporting audience of the Games to date and was followed by controversy as Pistorius claimed that the length of Oliveira’s running blades helped him secure gold.

Later on in the evening, Team GB’s David Weir clinched a dramatic victory in the men’s T54 5000m wheelchair race in front of an audience of 3.62m (20.07%) at 10.30pm.

Overall, C4’s evening coverage averaged 3.2m (14%) / 106k (0.5%) +1 from 7pm to 10.30pm, meaning it was the highest rated session of the Paralympics to date.

The Paralympics was the highest rated show at 9pm, apart from BBC1’s period detective drama, which only lost around 100k viewers on last week.

The Blake Morrison adaptation limped across the line with an audience that was marginally on terms with last week’s 1.97m (8.79%).

The three-part series has averaged 2.37m (10.1%) viewers, well below ITV1’s slot average of 5.84m (22.29%) for the past 12 months.

Highlights from the reality show bagged Channel 5 fourth place at 9pm, only 150k behind ITV1.

The factual format bowed out on a series high, but was rooted in last place at primetime. The three-part series averaged 1.45m (6.2%).