THE rain-lashed closing ceremony of the Commonwealth Games pulled in nearly 10 million viewers -- the biggest audience of the event, figures showed today.
A peak audience of 9.7 million saw stars such as Heather Small and Will Young get a soaking at the climax of the spectacular show in Manchester.
The BBC1 coverage exceeded the Games' opening event which had 8.9 million viewers and is thought to be the biggest audience recorded for the Commonwealth Games.
The biggest sporting showdown during the ten-day extravaganza was the finale of the track and field competition with 7.5 million watching the men's 4x400m relay for which England grabbed a gold.
Paula Radcliffe's 5,000m win a week ago was the second biggest hit with viewers with seven million watching.
Dave Gordon, BBC Sport executive editor for the Commonwealth Games, said: "The thousands of spectators in the stadia around Manchester gave all the athletes enthusiastic support and viewers in their millions added their applause for British sport from their living rooms."
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