Interest in the Vancouver Olympic games went well beyond Friday’s opening ceremonies.

The games averaged 28.6 million viewers on NBC over the weekend — the best opening weekend for a non-US Winter Olympics since the 1994 Lillehammer games (39.9 million), which featured the Tonya Harding-Nancy Kerrigan figure-skating soap opera.

Sunday night’s coverage averaged 26.4 million viewers on NBC, compared to 23 million who tuned in to the first Sunday night for the 2006 Winter Games in Torino.

Interest in Friday’s opening ceremonies, which averaged nearly 33 million viewers, was likely piqued by the death that day of Soviet Georgia luger Nodar Kumaritashvili, who was killed during a practice run.

Over the weekend, American speed skater (and former “Dancing With the Stars” winner) Apolo Ohno won a silver medal.

It was Ohno’s sixth medal, tying him with speed skater Bonnie Blair for the most Winter Olympics medals.

American skier Hannah Kearney won a gold in the Ladies Moguls Freestyle event. —