Athens 2004   

Tickets - the cycling situation

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With news circulating that there is pressure upon the Athens Organising Committee to make tickets available for free, it is indicative of the popularity of track cycling that the velodrome events are sold out.

The velodrome events begin on Friday 20th August. 41 countries will be represented in 12 different disciplines - 4 of which are for women. 

Built in 1001, the velodrome seats 5,427 people - paying spectators will occupy 3,638 of these for each session of the 6 days of competition at the track.

The IOC has let it be known that there is embarrassment about the fact that early competitions have begun with relatively empty stands. 

Only 2.9 million of the possible 5 million tickets available had been sold by the beginning of the first week. Concerns over terrorism and the slow progress made upon stadia and venues have been cited as possible reasons for the lack of early interest. The Athens OC also claim that they didn't except Greeks to flood into the early events as they are not sports which are of great interest domestically. 

All this is despite the fact the Opening Ceremony and first two days of competition took place over a long-holiday-weekend in Greece.

Tickets at Sydney 2000 totalled 9 million.

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