2012 London Olympics: Empty Seats on Day One Prompt Urgent Investigation

http://www.ibtimes.co.uk/articles/367905/20120729/london-olympics-2012-tickets-beach-volleyball-swimming.htm



2012 London Olympics: Empty Seats on Day One Prompt Urgent Investigation

Vacant seats visible even at venues of popular events such as swimming, gymnastics and beach volleyball

By Geetha Pillai: Subscribe to Geetha's RSS feed

July 29, 2012 6:54 AM GMT

Olympic organisers Locog have launched an urgent investigation into a large number of vacant seats at some of the Olympic venues on the first day of the London Games. Rows of vacant seats were visible at a number of venues including the Aquatics Centre, basketball arena and at Wimbledon for tennis. Seats were also seen vacant at gymnastics, handball, volleyball and badminton venues. Culture Secretary Jeremy Hunt expressed his concern and said he was disappointed at the empty seats on a school holiday. "Locog are doing a full investigation into what happened," Hunt told broadcaster BBC One.

"It's a shame this happened, but we are going to do everything we can to make sure we fill up these stadia," Hunt added. Seats remain vacant at the venues at a time when members of the public are desperately trying to get tickets for the Games. People paid a sky high £2,012 for the opening ceremony on 27 July.

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"I thought the least I could do was go and see them (the gymansts) and I'm watching them on television and the place is half empty and that's a shame. I would have paid whatever it takes to see them," a gymnastics enthusiast told Reuters. The vacant seats were believed to belong to government bodies and the media. "We think it was accredited seats that belong to sponsors, but if they are not going to turn up, we want those tickets to be available for members of the public, because that creates the best atmosphere. So we are looking at this very urgently at the moment," said Hunt.

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"Where there are empty seats, we will look at who should have been sitting in the seats, and why they did not attend. Early indications are that the empty seats are in accredited seating areas, but this is day one, and our end of day review will provide a fuller picture," Locog said in a statement.