Greeks plan no ticket bonanza

By Matthew Davis
BBC News Online, Athens

Greek organisers are optimistic despite poor attendance

Olympics officials have denied reports they will give away thousands of free tickets in a bid to get spectators into unfilled venues.

There is growing concern in Athens at the sight of leading events like tennis, weightlifting and football being played out in front of spartan crowds.

Fifa president Sepp Blatter said he was "surprised" by the lack of interest after just 1,119 fans turned up to watch Paraguay play Ghana.

Athens 2004 organisers deny there is a problem and say that at the moment there are "no plans" to give away free tickets.

"We have a full two weeks of Games ahead of us to promote and sell tickets to the Greek public," spokesman Michakis Zacharatos said.

"Sunday was the biggest public holiday in Greece. People will come back and they will be buying tickets."

He said the first day of equestrian events were almost 100% sold out and organisers had already recouped their pre-Games sales target of 183m euros.

The Greek public is really uniting behind the Olympic team, I am sure as the competitions progress and become more exciting they will be played out in venues that are full Michakis Zacharatos Athens 2004 spokesman

The latest figures from the Games organisers showed that less than 50% of tickets had been sold in 27 out of 54 events on Sunday.

In the Group B weightlifting finals, just 841 out of 3,510 tickets were sold and only a quarter of the tickets available for the Japan v Italy baseball preliminary had been sold.

Athens 2004 says eight of Sunday's events were completely sold out, including the Italy-Spain water polo and the Greece-Australia basketball match.

These figures do not show how many people attended, however, and the story on the ground is different.

'Lack of atmosphere'

Czech tennis player Jiri Novak told BBC News Online he was "disappointed" after just a few hundred people turned up to see him beat Britain's Tim Henman on the Olympic centre court.

John Coates, the Australian Olympic Committee president, said he was concerned at the lack of atmosphere at some events - especially rowing, which saw competition suspended due to high winds on Monday.

"Sports like rowing have only just started in Greece so they have a relatively low number of supporters.

"The atmosphere is always a concern if you do not have a large enough crowd. Let's hope the finals will be an improvement."

An extra 35 ticket booths are expected to be opened around Athens in an effort to boost sales.

Security wouldn't let me into the grounds to pick up my ticket from the team meeting, so I bought a ticket from a guy selling them outside the ground US water polo official

Touts out in force

Meanwhile, touts are operating openly in front of Olympic venues - but even they are being forced to slash their prices to get rid of tickets.

A senior official with the US water polo team told BBC News Online he paid half price for a touted ticket to the swimming event after being unable to pick up his reserved pass.

"Security wouldn't let me into the grounds to pick up my ticket from the team meeting," he said, "so I bought a ticket from a guy selling them outside the ground."

Touting is illegal in Greece. One of the first arrests came outside the Acropolis on 12 August. Greek police could not immediately give figures on the number of arrests since then.

Only 1,119 fans turned up to watch Ghana play Paraguay

A number of reasons have been proffered for the lacklustre audiences - which contrast unfavourably with the sell-out crowds of Sydney 2000.

Concerns over the security situation, the sluggish world economy, the strength of the euro against the dollar and fears of rip-off prices in Greece have all been blamed for scaring tourists.

Many Athenians have also been leaving the capital during their traditional holiday period, which coincided with the opening of the Games.

The dope test controversy that has surrounded two of Greece's leading sprinters has also shaken the Greek public, commentators say.