Trounced... by Antiques Roadshow

THE BBC’s coverage of the Olympics has suffered yet more humiliation after it was revealed that its Sunday primetime show raked in just half the viewers of the Antiques Roadshow.

Official figures showed 2.68million tuned in to watch Today At The Olympics on BBC1 from 7.30pm to 9pm on Sunday July 25.

By comparison, Antiques Roadshow hauled in 4.78million in the same slot from 8pm until 9pm the previous weekend.

Clare Balding and Alex Scott presented highlights of Day Two in Tokyo, which saw Team GB’s double Olympic taekwondo champion Jade Jones have to fight back the tears after being knocked out in the first round.

Fellow GB taekwondo athlete Bradly Sinden had to settle for silver in dramatic scenes as he had the gold medal snatched from his grasp with eight seconds to go.

Adam Peaty coasted into the 100m breaststroke final while Chelsie Giles won bronze in the judo.

Yet nearly 1.5 million people turned over instead of tuning in to the programme.

Countryfile, the show on BBC1 before Today At The Olympics, boasted an audience of 4.1 million.

A BBC spokesman said last night: ‘Audiences have come to BBC Sport in huge numbers to follow all the action from Tokyo, with a record-breaking 82million online viewing requests so far, plus over 35million tuning in to watch on TV.’ Last weekend saw an upturn in viewership with the same Sunday time slot (August 1) peaking at 4.5 million.

The BBC has been forced to defend itself in the face of criticism of its coverage, including the decision to show highlights of a rugby sevens match instead of the live Team GB women’s hockey match.

The Corporation is allowed to show only two live sports at once during the Games, after it lost a chunk of its broadcast rights to US pay-TV channel Discovery.