OLYMPICS LONDON 2012: Organisers Locog promise investigation into empty seats at sold-out venues

By Sportsbeat staff, London 2012

LONDON 2012 organisers are promising to launch an urgent investigation into the number of empty seats at venues across the Olympic Games.

BAD NEWS: A spectator sits among empty seats as he waits for the start of the final session on the first day of the London 2012 swimming competition

The opening session of the swimming saw huge areas of seating at the 17,000 seater Olympic Aquatic Centre empty, while the supposedly sold-out women's basketball match between Great Britain and sporting arch-rivals Australia was also far from capacity.

Organisers blamed officials, athletes and media for failing to occupy the accredited only seating they had been assigned, while they are working hard with sponsors to ensure they take up their allocation of tickets.

'’The public areas at all of the venues are packed and rocking," said a Locog spokesperson.

'’It is accredited areas for sponsors, media, international federations and even the support staff for those that are competing that are looking a bit sparse.’’

Ticketing has been one of Locog's biggest headaches and they've long expressed a determination to ensure their partners and backers bought into a joint responsibility for filling all available seats.

Organisers have tried also to make session times shorter to avoid people dipping in and out of venues, as appeared the case at Saturday's dressage, which was totally sold-out but never appeared more than two thirds full. 

© Sportsbeat 2012