More than 1m people tune in to watch fight

Almost a quarter of the population switched over to watch Katie Taylor’s gold medal-winning boxing match on Thursday, according to RTÉ.

More than 1.1 million viewers tuned in to RTÉ Two to watch the fight in their homes, with the figure not taking into account people who watched the match in bars, public places or online.

Close to 747,000 people also tuned in to RTÉ’s full coverage of the match, including pre- and post-match discussion and analysis, but jumped up to the million mark at 4.45pm when Katie appeared.

The 1.1m viewers watched the whole way through the 18-minute match, where Katie Taylor beat Russia’s Sonya Ochigava 10-8 at the ExCeL Arena.

Meanwhile in Bray, residents were almost unable to watch the fight after the ESB confirmed a power outage in the area.

Between 8,000 and 10,000 people were packed into playing pitches in Katie’s home of Balywaltrim on Thursday to watch the fight, when the power outage occurred around 4.05pm, but was restored at 4.35pm, 10 minutes before the fight got under way.

This was not the only energy disturbance, however, with EirGrid, the electricity grid operator, reporting a “significant” change in electricity demand during and after the match.

As people stopped what they were doing and watched the match, according to EirGrid, energy consumption dropped by 6% or the equivalent of energy usage for 130,000 houses.

Power rose when the match finished as people resumed normal activities such as switching the kettle on and then dipped again by 90 watts for the boxer’s medal presentation and Amhrán na bhFiann.

EirGrid also reported that Katie Taylor’s progression through the Olympics has had an affect the whole way through, with her semi-final match causing a 3% reduction in demand.

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