NBC finally got some Olympic-sized ratings Monday night in Sydney, Australia.

The Peacock Network has thus far failed to live up to Summer Olympics ratings expectations.

But NBC’s Monday-night coverage delivered a metered-market rating of 20.2 – a marked increase over Sunday’s numbers.

Since the Olympics kicked off Sept. 15, NBC has scored ratings consistently lower than the ’96 Summer Olympics in Atlanta.

Some critics are blaming the ratings dropoff on the 15-hour time difference in Sydney – and the fact that many people already know who’s won the Olympic events well before they air on NBC.

NBC was helped Monday night by dramatic, gold-medal-winning performances by Australian Aborigine Cathy Freeman (400 meters) and Michael Johnson.

Thus far, through 11 nights of Olympic coverage, NBC is averaging 18.8 million households – compared to the 29 million households NBC averaged through 11 nights of the ’96 Atlanta games.