By Tom Degun

Sebastian_Coe_playing_with_glasses_behind_sign-up_sign_in_Belfast_March_2011March 14 - London 2012 chairman Sebastian Coe has claimed he is confident the official ticketing website for the Olympics will not go into meltdown despite the huge volume of people expected to apply to see the Games to mark the 500 day countdown tomorrow.


In the past, huge numbers of people applying for tickets online at the same time have caused websites to crash due to the immense volume of traffic.

Such an occurrence happened last year when tickets went on sale for the 2011 Take That Progress Tour and 20 million fans swamped the website for tickets that sold out in 24 hours but Coe is confident the London 2012 policy of not having a first come-first served policy on ticket sales will prevent the same happening with the Olympics.

"Tickets are on sale from the official London 2012 website from March 15 to April 26 and there is no advantage in applying for tickets early during that window as they are allocated completely at random," Coe said.

"The six-week period for buying tickets is a great initiative as it prevents a mad rush and reduces fraudulent activity and we are confident that the system we have is as good as it can be.

"We have TicketMaster in place working with us on this so it is time for everyone around the UK to start planning their Games.

"With 42 days to apply for Olympic tickets, there's no need to rush and there is a huge choice of tickets to the greatest show on earth."

Coe revealed that track and field, which is set to feature Jamaican sprint king Usain Bolt, has had the most interest from those who have pre-register for tickets with around two million people hoping to go to the Olympic Stadium for the event.

Ticket prices range from £20 ($32) to £725 ($1,165) for the sports but the price of watching the Opening Ceremony is as much as £2,012 ($3,235).

But despite this, Coe believes that all tickets for the Games will be sold.

"I'm confident we'll have sold just about every ticket when the Games begin on July 27, 2012," he said.

"I'd like to think that all the tickets will be sold out by the end of April this year but it something that is difficult to forecast at this stage.

"But we have been working extremely hard on this for the last two years to make sure everything will run as smoothly as possible."

Contact the writer of this story at [email protected]


Related stories
March 2011: London Assembly demands curb on "excessive" London 2012 ticket allocation for officials
March 2011: One in ten men will raid wedding savings to snap up London 2012 tickets
March 2011: IOC President pleased with London 2012 ticket pricing structure
February 2011: London 2012 chief vows to make life "very difficult and very painful" for ticket touts
January 2011: London 2012 Olympic Games tickets on sale from March 15, reveals Coe