IOC looks into Olympic ticket illegal sale allegations

PanARMENIAN.Net - International Olympic Committee (IOC) 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 IOC convened an emergency session Saturday, June 16 to discuss a dossier of evidence presented to it by Britain's Sunday Times. The newspaper published an investigation claiming that officials have been offering tickets for the July 27-August 12 games, including sought after events such as the men's 100-metre final, at vastly inflated prices.

One of the most damaging allegations was against Spyros Capralos, the Greek Olympic Committee president and top organiser 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 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, The Associated Press reported.