LONDON (AP) -
Facing criticism for swaths of empty seats at
venues, Olympic organizers said Tuesday that 2.1 million people attended
events in the first three full days of competition.
They said 86 percent of ticket-holders showed up Saturday, 92 percent Sunday and 88 percent Monday.
The empty seats have been blamed
mostly on officials from sports' governing bodies and national Olympic
committees that don't use their tickets in prime areas, which are often
seen on television and in photos.
Organizers say 856,000 attended
events Saturday, including a "conservative" estimate of 500,000 on the
men's cycling road race route.
It was 900,000 on Sunday, when
eight men's soccer matches were played. An estimated 300,000 lined the
women's cycling route. Monday's overall attendance was 370,000.
Organizing committee spokeswoman
Jackie Brock-Doyle said it won't publish breakdowns of each sport's
attendance, which could detail events that struggled to lure
ticket-holders.
As for the empty seats, a
potential solution was offered Tuesday when the head of Britain's
Olympic body called on the IOC to take more responsibility.
The International Olympic
Committee should invest hundreds of millions of dollars in centralized
ticket distribution, British Olympic Association chairman Colin Moynihan
said.
"It is so important to the
sporting public of the host city, the host country, to get this right
that this is now, I hope, recognized by the IOC as something which they
should take on," Moynihan said at a news conference.
Moynihan said the proposal had
not been given to the IOC, but should be part of a formal debriefing of
the London Olympics hosted by 2016 host Rio de Janeiro in November.
The logistics challenges facing
London Games organizers, and the "very regrettable" images of
under-occupied venues, were an unfair burden, Moynihan said.
Ticket sales are the responsibility of the organizing committee, which pledged that 75 percent would reach British residents.
Reacting to problems during the
weekend, organizers now contact sports officials each evening to reclaim
prime seats for sale online.
Brock-Doyle said 3,800 tickets,
covering 30 sessions across 15 sports, were quickly sold to the British
public for Tuesday events. Buyers for events in Olympic Park, North
Greenwich Arena and volleyball venue Earls Court will also be allowed to
print out their tickets at home.
Troops on downtime from Olympic duties and pre-accredited students and teachers are also being given tickets.
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