It had been confirmed that about 250,000 sports fans were unsuccessful in the ballot to attend events at next year’s London Olympics. But it has emerged that the demand for tickets has been such that about 55 per cent of the 1.8 million applicants were unsuccessful in getting any tickets at all. A spokesman for the Games would not comment on the claims, saying that the final figures on sales following the first ballot would not be disclosed until next week.
But Olympic insiders admitted they were taken by surprise by the overwhelming demand for cheaper tickets, which meant that those seats were oversubscribed many times over for most events. They believe that, because of the tough economic climate, most applicants opted for the cheaper D and C category tickets which are furthest away from the action. Tickets in all categories to the finals in athletics, swimming, track cycling and gymnastics were also oversubscribed many times over.
All applicants who missed out on getting a ticket will be able to try again in the second draw, which is being held on a first-come first-served basis at the end of the month, albeit that they will almost certainly have to pay more than they had originally intended. Fans of a number of sports are likely to find that they can obtain only the more expensive tickets, in the A and B categories, some of which cost more than £1,000. However, The Daily Telegraph understands that virtually all of the tickets for the more popular sports have already gone.
The London Olympic Games organiser, Locog, is still finalising the last credit card payments after allocating all of the oversubscribed sessions in a series of random draws. All successful applicants will be contacted by June 24 and told which seats they have secured. At present, while people are aware from their statements that they have obtained some tickets, many who applied for several different events have been left largely in the dark about which they will be going to. Locog had 6.6 million tickets available to the public in this ticket offer, representing about 75 per cent of all the tickets available.
The rest have gone to the sponsors, broadcasters, media, international sports federations, overseas sales, national Olympic committees, International Olympic Committee members and other VIPs.
Hundreds of thousands of fans expressed disappointment after learning that they had been unsuccessful last week, and there was also anger about the lack of information on the best way to obtain tickets.