Olympic authorities are taking steps to fill seats at London 2012 following criticism of partially full venues.
Authorities look to re-sell tickets to ensure full houses
Olympic authorities are taking steps to fill seats across the London 2012 venues following criticism of partially full arenas.
Some 3,000 tickets from international sports federations have been sold after being "put back in the pot" while further measures are being considered to make sure the venues are filled to capacity
London 2012 chairman Sebastian Coe is urging international federations to make sure they use areas reserved for them to avoid embarrassment.
And Culture Secretary Jeremy Hunt said a possible 30 minute rule is being considered in a bid to fill empty seats.
He said: "We're looking at whether we are able to do it, but we are hosting this event under a contractual arrangement that we have with the International Olympic Committee and sports federations and so we do have to respect what we've agreed to contractually in order to get London to host the Games."
He added: "What we're saying to the IOC and to the international sports federations is if you're not going to use them, could we have as many possible back because of course we've got lots of members of the public who would dearly love to go.
"We want to be completely upfront with the public, this is a negotiation, we don't have a right to demand these back.
"In fact contractually these seats do belong to the international sports federations and to the IOC, but we got 3,000 back last night, including 600 for the gymnastics."
Jackie Brock-Doyle, Locog's director of communications, said they will be aiming to re-sell unused tickets throughout the Game to ensure as many seats as possible are filled.
"We talked to the International Federations, we were able to put back into the pot for sale around 3,000 tickets last night, they have all been sold," she said.
"That includes about 600 for the gymnastics event and we're going to do that on a day-to-day basis."
She said they were talking to accredited groups, including broadcast media and seeing if they can release some tickets.
"Everybody is giving up what they can and it is session by session so some sessions, for example of beach volleyball we have had returns of probably about 300-400 this morning, but for the evening sessions and the afternoon sessions it's less.
"We are literally doing it session-by-session."
About 50 seats previously classed as restricted view and unoccupied during the first two days of the badminton at Wembley Arena were filled on Monday by members of the RAF and Army security teams.
Apart from two other rows of restricted-view seats, the 4,800-capacity venue has been close to full for all sessions.
The Games have also been threatened with further embarrassment amid reports that some athletes' relatives did not get to see them compete because of confusion over a system which allows each Olympian to buy two tickets for friends and family for each session in which they are competing.
Locog director of sport Debbie Jevans said: "On the athletes' friends and family, it's the first year that this has been put in place and there has been enormous demand, which is fantastic.
"In response to that demand, we have opened an extra window for it. There's an extra facility just north of the Athletes' Village where tickets can be collected from, and if the gap is less than four hours, ie you go from a heat to a final, the athlete can go and get those tickets on site for their friend and family.
"We've taken note of the first few days, we've discussed it with the various chefs, indeed as recently as with the chef de mission this morning, and all those processes are being put in place for today."
