TWO men in London have become the envy of Britain after getting the only Olympic tickets they applied for, that is Men’s 100m final tickets seats.
Tim Fuell, a 36-year-old from Hillingdon and 23-year-old Anant Bhadreshwara both managed to beat the odds and get seats for the blue riband event of the London Games despite applying for no other seats and both will be able to watch Usain Bolt and his rivals in action from the cheapest seats in the stadium.
Over one million people applied for just 40 000 seats for the race on August 5, with the remaining 40 000 seats in the stadium being reserved for sponsors’ guests.
“I was not really confident that I would get the tickets,” said Fuell, who will take his wife and twin daughters to the event next August. “There is probably more chance of being struck twice by lightning in the same day!” he joked.
Bhadreshwara was also thrilled to have got the seats, telling BBC London that he was “overwhelmed”.
“My enthusiasm for the 100m only really grew after I saw Usain Bolt in the media,” he added. “It’ll be great to see him live.”
Fuell and Bhadreshwara will be the envy of many this morning, with stories circulating across the internet about fans that were left empty-handed despite trying to buy thousands of pounds worth of tickets.
Even London Mayor Boris Johnson lost out in the lottery, as did former British Olympic heroes Chris Boardman and Bradley Wiggins.
But others have ended up with enormous bills after getting more than they bargained for. Radio presenter Richard Bacon has ended up with a £3 000 ticket bill, while accountant Stephen Hunt had £11 000 deducted from his account – but only after applying for over £36 000 of seats!
In all 1.8 million people made 20 million applications for the 6.6 million tickets available, though organisers claim that just under half of the 650 events at the Games were undersubscribed.