(REUTERS) – Seats for the men’s 100 metres sprint final at the London Olympics will be among a batch of one million tickets going on sale this week, though most will go to people already unsuccessful in the ballot. More than 900 000 tickets, which will go on sale from Friday, were held back while seating and broadcasting logistics were worked out. A further 100 000 tickets have been returned.
Some 70 000 general tickets for the Olympic Park in east London will also go on sale for those wanting to soak up the atmosphere without going into the venues.
Priority will be given to the 20 000 people unsuccessful in the previous two rounds of ticket sales. They will get the chance to apply for all events, including 5 000 tickets for the men’s athletics final and some for the opening and closing ceremonies.
They will have 31 hours’ exclusive access, after which the one million people who were unsuccessful in the initial ballot will be able to apply during a five-day period.
“We know thousands of sports fans were disappointed when they missed out in the initial sales period because of the massive demand for tickets,” London organising committee chairman Seb Coe said.
“We promised we would prioritise these fans when we released the contingency tickets, which is exactly what we are doing.”
The online ticketing system has come in for heavy criticism from sports fans frustrated at long delays and a system seemingly unable to cope with the enormous demand.
Organisers asked people to be patient, and warned it could take about 20 minutes to book a ticket when the site reopens.
Fans will be able to apply for up to four tickets for one session only. Any unsold tickets for the July 27-August 12 Games will go on general sale from May 23.
Some 1.4 million tickets for the football tournament remain available.
Organisers confirmed that fans wanting to watch the cycling road race at some of the best spots along the course, who had assumed the event would be free, would have to pay.