IOC probes tickets found on black market
Associated Press
LONDON
International Olympic officials have opened a high-level investigation into allegations that authorized representatives in more than 50 countries — including a national Olympic committee — were involved in selling London Olympics tickets on the black market for profit.
The International Olympic Committee convened an emergency session Saturday to discuss a dossier of evidence presented to it by Britain’s Sunday Times. The newspaper published an investigation Sunday claiming that officials have been offering tickets for the July 27-Aug. 12 London games, including highly sought-after events such as the men’s 100-meter final, at vastly inflated prices.
One of the most damaging allegations was against Spyros Capralos, the Greek Olympic Committee president and top organizer for the 2004 Athens Olympics.
He was quoted as saying he had “pulled strings” with London organizing chairman Sebastian Coe to obtain an extra batch of premium tickets for official agents in Greece, on the pretext that demand in his country had outstripped expectations.
The paper said Capralos acknowledged in talks with its undercover reporters that demand had actually been very low and that many of the tickets were subsequently sold to people outside Greece for profit.