All eyes are on Russia this week for various reasons, but one of those is the Paralympic Winter Games in Sochi, the coverage of which drew 5.3 million viewers to CBC television over its first three days.

The Games continue to run uninterrupted despite the tense geopolitical situation surrounding Russia’s invasion of Crimea.

According to the pubcaster, around 15% of the Canadian population tuned in to an English-language television broadcast sometime between the opening ceremony Friday March 7 (pictured) and Sunday, March 9.

Martin Richard, executive director, communications and marketing, Canadian Paralympic Committee, said the 2012 London Paralympic Games drew a total of 1.2 million viewers to Canadian television coverage throughout the games, citing BBM Canada data.

“This is a true success for Paralympic sport in Canada,” he says. “Numbers are great, but the biggest success is the quality of broadcast and storytelling.”

The CBC-led Canadian Paralympic Committee Broadcast Consortium is set to broadcast more than 90 hours of television of coverage and over 250 hours of online coverage on partners including Sportsnet and Accessible Media.

Coverage continues through March 16.

– From Media in Canada