Tonight:
4°c
2012 tickets will be reused to fill seats
Matthew Beard, Sports News Correspondent11 Aug 2008
London Olympics chiefs are proposing to "recycle" tickets to fill any empty seats at the Games.
They are planning to copy the scheme operated at the Wimbledon tennis championships where departing spectators hand over their day tickets for re-use.
Olympics minister Tessa Jowell said the ticket recycling scheme and planned public viewing areas would attract thousands more spectators to the Olympic Park, even if they had missed out in the initial ticket allocation.
The plans emerged amid criticism that many of the VIP seats in Beijing are empty. There are also concerns that the wider Olympic Green area in Beijing - the equivalent of London's Olympic park - has become a "no-man's land" for the general public.
Ms Jowell said: "London will be great fun. We will have live sites throughout London and people will be able to come into the (Olympic) park. The park will become a destination, even if you are not inside one of the venues.
"We will also have a system like Wimbledon where if people leave before the end then their tickets will go back into a pool to maximise spectator access. London is a city of fun, and there will be lots of fun."
In Beijing it was the third day that large numbers of people were not able to access the Olympic Green, which includes the Olympic Stadium, Water Cube and sponsor pavilions. Spokesman Sun Weide said as more events take place around the green, greater crowds are expected. Rain was also a factor today.
However, special passes are required for entry for people without accreditation or tickets to specific events.
Most of the ordinary Chinese can be seen on the outside, peering through a fence at the marvels they have helped finance through taxation.
Reader views (5)
This really sounds great. I think it is better to have a draw pool. In other words ..Have a set number of subs that are available ( security cleared before time).This will give anyone a fighting chance to go.
- Milton, Hattiesburg,Mississippi USA, 24/08/2008 14:28
Report abuse
Replace 'Chinese' with 'Londoners' or with ....er......'English' erm... oh I forgot everything happens in London...of course.
- Big Lad, sheffield, 24/08/2008 01:25
Report abuse
Wow, this is great. I m just an ordinary mom trying to figure out if I will be able to fullfil my Olympic dream of actually seeing the games from abroad. I m working really hard to make that dream a reality for me and my son.
- T.L. Brownley, Owings Mills, Md. USA, 19/08/2008 22:46
Report abuse
Jimbob,
And your solution would be? Allow all the English people to attend the events free because England is hosting the games? Of course, this is on a grander scale, but every city pays when a major event comes home to them - with luck, the Olympics will generate huge sums of money that will be put back into the schools, streets, renovations. Why buy a ticket? Why wouldn't you - the greatest athletes on the planet will be there and you won't even have to pay for a hotel or airline seat.
- Diana, San Diego, USA, 18/08/2008 03:24
Report abuse
Most of the ordinary Chinese can be seen on the outside, peering through a fence at the marvels they have helped finance through taxation.
Now replace the word "Chinese" with "Londoners" and hey presto the 2012 Olympics!
To me this is the government starting to worry that nobody is going to bother turning up to watch and certainly not any English people. Why should we buy a ticket when we paid for the entire games?
- Jimbob, Kensington, 11/08/2008 14:50
Report abuse
Matthew Beard, Sports News Correspondent, on Twitter
