Deserted: A large number of empty seats have been seen for the third day running at the aquatics center, where relatives of some swimmers have been denied entry.
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The row over ticketing at the Olympics escalated today as it emerged parents of athletes are being turned away from half-empty Games venues.
Parents and friends of swimmers are said to have been refused entry to the aquatics centre, while relatives of tennis players have been unable to see matches at Wimbledon.
Similar problems have been reported at Eton Dorney for the rowing and the ExCel boxing venue, where parents have only been allowed entry after drawn-out negotiations.
Details of the mix-up emerged as organisers began handing school children front-row seats in a desperate bid to fill venues.
Organisers Locog revealed today that it had also taken some 3,000 Olympics tickets from international sporting federations and put them 'back in the pot' to be bought by members of the public.
A senior member of the International Olympic Committee, Gunilla Lindberg, complained that the issue had become chaotic and distracting for many athletes.
Relatives and friends of Swedish and Singapore swimmers are known to have been refused entry, but the problem is thought to have affected competitors from other countries as well.
'It is so confusing for everyone,' Ms Lindberg told the Daily Telegraph. 'Parents keep calling the athletes, no one knows where the tickets are and it is not very good preparation for the athletes to be so stressed about it.
Ms Lindberg said the problem appeared to have been caused by a glitch in the system used to allocate tickets to athletes' relatives.
She added: 'This is chaos, no one knows about the system.
'But I don't know how it is going to be sorted as it is so complex and this is the first Games this programme has been used.'Locog said the system entitled every Olympic competitor to two tickets for each session in which they take part.
The body's 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.'
The problem is a cause of more embarrassment for Games organizers, who have resorted to desperate measures to fill seats in venues which had officially sold out.
Troops, teachers and students are being drafted in to fill seats that were intended for the 'Olympic family' of delegates and sponsors.
London Mayor Boris Johnson said there had been discussion on 'how to crack the ticketing problem' when ministers met in the Cabinet Office this morning.
All by himself: A lone man sits in an empty section of seats inside Earl's Court during a women's volleyball preliminary match between China and Turkey.
And Jackie Brock-Doyle, Locog's director of communications, said they had been able to get back 3,000 and re-sell them - a move they will do each day to make sure as many seats as possible are filled. 'We talked to the International Federations yesterday, 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 today and we're going to do that on a day-to-day basis.'
Ms Brock-Doyle said Locog were talking to accredited groups, including broadcast media and seeing if they can release some tickets.
'Where we can we are going to release those the night before and put them up for sale.
'Three thousand went up for sale last night and they have all been sold this morning.'
She said the number of seats given up depended on the sport, and in some situations also depended on security arrangements, but in those cases, they had contingency plans involving giving seats to troops or students and teachers.
'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 to 400 this morning, but for the evening sessions and the afternoon sessions it's less.
'We are literally doing it session-by-session.'
Asked if they had 'got it wrong', she said: 'We are trying everything we can to make sure that those accredited seats are filled where we can.
'There are operational issues that make it difficult to fill some of those seats which is why we are making them available to the troops and to the teachers and the children.
'We had a plan in place for the teachers and the children over a year ago that we employ. There's 150 children and teachers on the park today, that's only for the park, we will increase that to about 300 to 400 tomorrow.
'We really are doing the best we can, but it's not an exact science as we saw with swimming last night and basketball and the American match yesterday.'
Entry for free: Children from Clapton Girls Academy head to the Olympic Park at Stratford with free tickets as organizers try to fill empty stadia. Meanwhile, some athletes' parents have been turned away.
Resale tickets are available for sale online only, and box offices are only for collecting tickets.
Ms Brock-Doyle said there had been 'lots of conversations over the years' with each of the accredited groups, and where they had been able to take tickets back from people such as the Press, they had.
She also told the briefing at the Olympic Park that no international sports federations had 'just said no' to requests for accredited tickets to be given back.
'Everybody gave a little bit back, we probably got the most back from gymnastics,' she said.
Pupils at Clapton Girls Academy in East London have had the 20 free tickets they received before the Games began upgraded to front-row seats.
The girls sat court side during the Brazil versus Australia men's basketball game.
Teacher Kitty Fox said: 'I think it is fantastic that they are giving any available and unused seats to schoolchildren.
'We have been told that if the people who have paid for the front row seats do turn up then we might have to move along. But so far that hasn't happened.
'We are just enjoying the fact we have got the chance to witness so many sports.”
SEATS REPLACED BECAUSE THEY 'WEREN'T WELDED IN PROPERLY'
Seats at some Olympic venues had to be replaced or welded properly in to place after spectators complained they collapsed under their weight.
The complaint came from ticket-holders watching the archery at Lord’s Cricket Ground and rowing at Eton Dorney.
Organisers said all of the 200,000 temporary seats at the Olympics had been checked and fewer than 100 had been replaced.
A London 2012 spokesman said none of the seats had collapsed.
'The welding on one seat came away, the spokesman added. 'Overnight they have gone through all of the seating that this particular contractor put in place across the whole games (venues network).'
Ms Fox, a PE teacher, went on: 'The girls are all keen sportswomen and are chuffed to be here.
'When they found out the girls were absolutely ecstatic, some of them wouldn't have been able to go otherwise.
'So far we have been court side at the basketball and caught some handball games.
'We are given seats to whatever events need seats filling, so it is kind of pot luck.
'It has been really exciting - one minute we are watching men's water polo, the next women’s basketball.
'Hopefully this experience will inspire the girls to go out and achieve sporting success.'
About 50 seats previously classed as restricted view and unoccupied during the first two days of the badminton at Wembley Arena were filled today 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.
Sir Clive Woodward, Team GB’s deputy chef de mission, told the BBC: 'I was in Beijing and, to put it in perspective, I was going to tennis matches and hockey matches in Beijing where there was nobody there.'
He added: 'You can see it doesn’t look right, but I feel a bit for Locog as well because they’re trying to keep everyone happy.
'I can see how it looks and you feel for the people at home who’d love to be there.
'I know they’re working on it. As we speak now they’re trying to work out ways of trying to fix it.'
Locog yesterday began an investigation into the fiasco as it emerged prized Olympic tickets entrusted to foreign delegations are being openly sold by touts on the streets of Britain.
Touts are cashing in on the huge demand for seats by selling tickets sent overseas by Games organizers.
Last night Scotland Yard said every illegal seller arrested so far had held tickets dispatched overseas to national committees and official re-sellers.
Interested spectators: Soldiers were drafted in to fill gaps in the crowd at gymnastics events at the North Greenwich arena.
One of the touts held is from Germany, another from Slovakia.
The discovery raises further questions about the way in which precious tickets are allocated by the International Olympic Committee.
And it will frustrate millions of British sport fans who have been left watching events on TV because they failed to get a seat in last year’s ballot.
Shadow Olympics Minister Dame Tessa Jowell praised Lord Coe for announcing plans to make more seats available to frustrated fans angry at officials and sponsors who have not used their allocation.
'We’ve got to get people into those seats today, tomorrow and the next day,' she told BBC Radio 4's Today programme.
'I think the measures Seb Coe announced yesterday go quite a long way into that, together with the recycling of tickets for people who are already in the park.
'This is very important for the confidence of the British public.'
Dame Tessa said the International Olympic Committee should work with Locog to unlock tickets for genuine fans eager to glimpse a slice of the action.
She added: 'They own the Games, they have got to be part of the solution to this particular problem of the sporting federations and these accredited seats remaining empty.
'However, we can’t wait for that medium-term resolution.'
Former Labour sports minister Kate Hoey, the MP for Vauxhall in south London, said she was 'glad' that ways to fill the empty seats were being explored.
She said: 'There are definitely lots of really, really good community sports clubs all over London, very, very near, with great people who, at the drop of a hat, could get their youngsters there and those youngsters are people who would never, ever have got a ticket.
'They wouldn't even know what a Visa card was to get a ticket in the first place.
'We've already offered the names of some people who have these links in with the grass roots and that could happen very, very easily.
'I think what they have done is probably allocated too many to each international Olympic committee and that could be changed pretty quickly.'
Ms Hoey added: “The important thing is to get the seats filled with people, but if we can get some youngsters who would never have had the chance to get in, let’s go for it.'
Culled from The Daily Mail UK.
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