Olympics empty seats investigation gets underway
Olympic Games organisers are investigating empty seats which have been blighting some of the Olympic venues in London.
These have included prime blocks of seating at the Aquatics Centre, the volleyball at Earl’s Court and the gymnastics at the O2.
The London Organising Committee of the Olympic and Paralympic Games (Locog), have drafted in soldiers to fill these empty seats, according to reports.
The culture secretary, Jeremy Hunt, described the situation as a priority and said it was “very disappointing”
A Locog spokesman commented: “Where there are empty seats, we will look at who should have been sitting in the seats, and why they did not attend.
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It is thought that the seats have been left empty by accredited officials from Olympic and sporting federations, as well as some sponsors and members of the media, but a review will take place for a fuller picture.
During the ticketing process, which saw 6.6m of the 8.8m tickets being made available to members of the public, organisers repeatedly highlighted measures in place to ensure there would be no empty seats.
They claimed they wished to avoid the situation that occurred in Beijing which saw large areas of empty seats.