An acute shortage of tickets for the Beijing Olympics means that there are as few as six per session on sale to the entire British public for some events, it has emerged.

Although competitors’ families are supposed to receive priority booking, many may be forced to watch the competition on television, with swimming and cycling said to be the worst-affected events.

The shortage is the result of Britain’s allocation of only 30,000 tickets by the Beijing Organising Committee . Britain received an allocation of 120,000 for the 2004 Olympics in Athens.

Most of the tickets for events inside Beijing’s aquatic centre and velodrome — which have seating capacities of 17,000 and 6,000 respectively — are expected to go to sponsors, VIPs and media. Three quarters of the public allocation is for Chinese nationals and the remainder is divided between spectators from more than 200 countries. “The number of tickets available in Britain for swimming and cycling is in single digits across the board,” said Jeff Hunter, operations director of Sportsworld, the official ticket agent. “We thought it was a typo.”

Unless more tickets become available, British officials will have to decide which competitors will be allowed to bring family members with them.

David Hoy, father of the Scottish cycling champion, Chris, said that the situation was upsetting. In 2004 he was among a party of 18 family members and friends who witnessed the cyclist’s gold medal-winning performance in Athens. He said: “We seem to be at the end of a very long queue. I know the Olympics are about business and not just sport but the last thing we want is to be standing outside the venue with a banner saying ‘Athlete’s parents need tickets’. Chris is on record as saying that the crowd response [during] each lap drove him to win gold in Athens,” Mr Hoy said.

The British swimming team is said to be experiencing similar problems.

The international quota has prompted intervention by the Olympics Minister Tessa Jowell. In November she negotiated for an extra 5,000 tickets to be allocated to Britain.

But with allocations still failing to meet the needs of the cycling and swimming teams, she intends to apply further pressure. “We need more flexibility within the overall allocation for what will be our priority sports in order that our athletes are supported by family and friends,” she said.

Cycling was one of Britain’s most successful events in 2004, yielding nine medals, including two golds.

“There will be a lot of disappointed fans,” said Peter King, of British Cycling. “The few Brits in the velodrome will have to shout very loudly.”

The British Olympic Association is seeking a share of 120,000 more tickets allocated to the International Olympic Committee.

Losing track

— 75 per cent of the 7 million tickets will go to Chinese nationals
— Prices range from £2 for archery to £300 for the opening ceremony.
— The most expensive sport event is basketball, China’s national sport
— Swimming, track cycling and artistic gymnastics are sold out.
— There are still tickets for athletics, rowing and beach volleyball.
— Britain has been allocated between 6 and 15 tickets for each track cycling session.

Tickets are available online at sportsworld.co.uk/beijing2008 or by calling 0870 385 0808

Source: BOCOG, Sportsworld, Times database

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