Sebastian Coe, London 2012 chairman has vowed to fill seats with troops and students following reports of empty seats at a few Olympic venues.

Gaps were visible at a number of venues today and yesterday, including the Aquatics Centre, gymnastics and beach volleyball – other venues such as rowing, boxing, shooting and handball were full.

Coe said students, teachers and troops had been given some of the empty seats, most of which had been “accredited seats” reserved for teams, federations and Olympic officials.

Coe said: “I don’t want to see swathes of seats empty and will make sure we can do everything we can to fill them.

“For example we looked at gymnastics today and could see empty seats in the accredited area so were able to move some troops so they were sitting there this morning enjoying the gymnastics.

“But let’s put this into perspective – those venues are stuffed to the gunwales.”

Coe added: “We can clearly sell more tickets, which we did yesterday. We sold something like 1,000 tickets over three sessions.

“The other thing is we can tactically upgrade and move people.”

Asked about how other tickets would be recycled to others in the Olympic Park, he said: “It’s very much on the Wimbledon format. It sensibly takes place in our park venues, where we’ve got classically the double headers, in sports like hockey, basketball water polo, handball.

“On handball yesterday, we recycled just under 300 tickets, about 283 tickets, and they went out to adults at £5 and children at £1.

“Those numbers will increase over the course of the Games.

“It’s sensible. People who classically have gone to see one specific team, but the ticket covers them for the next session, and they leave to go to do something else.”

IOC communications director Mark Adams insisted that sponsors were not to blame for the problems.

He said: “It’s completely wrong to say this is a sponsors issue. It’s a whole range of people – federations, athletes, some media, a handful of people, largely speaking the sponsors are in other areas.

“A majority of sponsors have turned up.”

Discuss the empty seats and ticketing system here

Transport for London (TfL) have confirmed today that they plan to deliver Wi-Fi internet access for tube commuters in time for the Olympics Games being held in the city, although access will be limited to the 120 Underground station platforms.

Commuters will be able to go online and check emails and breaking news from their smart phones or laptops as they travel possibly by this July.

The original plan was abandoned last year after funding issues and technical obstacles prevented the installation of the system.

Gareth Powell, TfL’s director of strategy and service development, told the Metro: “London Underground is continuing with preparations to install the necessary infrastructure and is on schedule to complete the project as planned.”

“An announcement of the chosen service provider will be made in early spring leaving plenty of time for this to be delivered to customers in time for the 2012 Games.”

It is unclear if commuters will be charged extra for the service and unfortunately the wireless internet service will not extend to the train carriages themselves.

FIFA have admitted that Amadou Diallo, the go-between accused of brokering bribes on behalf of Qatar’s successful 2022 World Cup bid worked for the organisation and was responsible to Mohamed Bin Hammam.

The presidential candidate hoping to dethrone current incumbent Sepp Blatter has confirmed that Diallo is a close friend but remained adamant that the accused official from Equatorial Guinea had done nothing untoward.

Diallo was named in allegations published by British Parliamentarians on information received from newspaper The Sunday Times as the middle man in the scandal that allegedly saw FIFA Executive Committee members Issa Hayatou and Jacques Anouma receive backhanders for voting for Qatar. 

It is understood Diallo is currently a member of Bin Hammam’s campaign team in the run-up to the FIFA Presidential election on June 1.

A FIFA spokesman told insideworldfootball that Diallo, who left the organisation in 2007, was paid during his six years there as a “travelling freelance” involved in the GOAL project that provides funds and equipment for developing football in poorer countries.

Asian Football Confederation (AFC) president Bin Hammam happens to be head of the GOAL bureau but it is not known how closely he worked with Diallo when the latter was employed by FIFA.

The Qatari told the Press Association: “I will not deny this friendship, he is a close friend of mine, but I am sure that he has done nothing wrong.

“I will meet up with him from time to time and he will travel with me here and there, but he is not playing any part in the decisions I take.

“If you know the role he plays you will laugh at these allegations. 

“He’s simply a friend of mine and he has nothing to do with Qatar or anyone.”

DiBenedetto said the first priority would be “to balance the books, to bring the club back into financial fair play given that we’re presently outside” before confirming that he would like to relocate the club from the Stadio Olimpico, which was built for the 1960 Olympics in the city.

He added: “We need a new and different stadium – an English-style stadium that motivates the players. Roma doesn’t have the adapted structure. Olimpico doesn’t do justice to the passion of the fans, the seats are too far from the pitch and the atmosphere is lost.”

As part of his long-term aspirations, DiBenedetto added that he wanted “a club that knows how to get the best out of new technology and communication and the social media, to reach every corner of the globe, which will enable us to sell our merchandising better and to increase our revenues to buy the best players.”

Italpetroli – the Sensi family holding company that owns Roma and was taken over by UniCredit last year – confirmed in December that it was considering a number of non-binding offers for the club.

Gerry Ryan has been appointed the new president of Cycling Australia (CA) in a pivotal period for the governing body.

The owner of professional team Orica-GreenEDGE replaces Klaus Mueller, who stepped down in August after three and a half years at the helm.

“I look forward to helping CA move forward in a more commercially viable manner,” said Ryan.

CA also announced the appointment of former senior AFL administrator Adrian Anderson as interim chief executive, replacing Graham Fredericks.

Australian Sports Commission (ASC) chairman John Wylie was understood to have played a key role in convincing Ryan – the founder of caravan manufacturer Jayco – to accept the CA presidency.

“It is fitting and most welcome that a person so well respected by corporate Australia takes on the presidency of Cycling Australia at this critical time of major reform for the sport,” Wylie said in a statement.

CA was the subject of an inquiry into its anti-doping processes last year, following the departure of vice-president Stephen Hodge and road program coordinator Matt White.

Hodge and White both admitted to using illegal drugs during their racing careers.

White was later reinstated as GreenEDGE’s sports director after serving a six-month ban.

The ASC also criticised CA’s governance, threatening to withhold 20 per cent of its government funding unless improvements were made.

The ASC demanded that CA, BMX Australia and Mountain Bike Australia merge into one governing body.

“There is certainly restructuring required to tighten processes and reduce the inefficient duplication of resources,” said Ryan.

“I look forward to working closely with Adrian over the coming months to create a collaborative environment that continues to deliver champion riders across the four disciplines, but does so in a manner that is underpinned by sound business principles.”

In addition to his ownership of GreenEDGE, Ryan has helped fund the Australian Institute of Sport’s cycling program and sponsored other races such as the Tour Down Under, the Herald Sun Tour and the Bay Classic criterium series.

Ryan’s appointment was also welcomed by Australian Olympic Committee president John Coates.

“Gerry has made a tremendous contribution to the sport for over two decades,” he said.

“He has supported individual riders including Kathy Watt when she won gold in 1992 and he has sponsored cycling tours, cycling programs and, more recently, he formed the GreenEDGE team.

“He is committed to the sport and his drive and passion in the role of CA president will be of great benefit to cyclists at all levels.”

Anderson will fill the interim CEO’s role until a permanent appointment is made in February.

“I look forward to progressing governance reform and working towards establishing a stable financial platform from which to grow the sport,” said Anderson.

“I also look forward to strengthening public faith in the integrity of Australian cycling by continuing to implement reforms from the Wood Review in a transparent manner.”

Australia’s Nine Network is set to make losses after buying Olympics rights but has secured some late advertising deals.

Nine Entertainment Group Sales and Marketing Director, Peter Wiltshire said: “The beauty of a short market is it gives us the ability to monetise really fast. There were plenty of people prepared to get on board at late notice.”

Wiltshire refuted rumorus that advertisers were being offered a presence in every single advertising break during the Olympics to tempt them on board.

He also denied allegations that advertisers who booked Olympics airtime months ago had returned to renegotiate terms.

Network sources have acknowledged losses of around (Au) $25M.

No agreement has been reached for the rights to air the 2016 Olympics.{jcomments on}

WWE have announced the launch of its new Russian language website.

The site, drug which was developed by Russian-based Tvigle Media, medstore will replicate content from the global WWE website and also include localised content created specifically for Russian fans.

“WWE continues to expand its digital business globally and views Russia as a key strategic territory for organic growth,” stated Dominic Hayes, Senior Vice President & Managing Director, WWE International. “Tvigle.ru is a major internet portal whose strong presence online in Russia makes them a great partner for this digital expansion. The site will provide fans with a range of dynamic content including editorial features and video, as well as social networking capabilities.”

Egor Yakovlev, CEO of Tvigle Media, added: “This new exclusive partnership with WWE is a fantastic opportunity for Tvigle Media to bring online content from one of the world’s most popular sports entertainment brands into the Russian digital space.”

Following the premiere of WWE Raw on 2×2 in February 2011, the launch of a Russian language website further enhances WWE’s presence in this market. Tvigle’s existing media partners include Fox International, Disney CIS and Cyber Group Animation, as well as such global consumer brands as Procter&Gamble, Mars and Unilever.

 

International Olympic Committee co-ordination chief Jean-Claude Killy has confirmed that construction work ahead of the 2014 Sochi Winter Olympics is going “according to plan”, with aspects of the preparations proceeding at a “very impressive” rate.

Speaking at the end of a three-day inspection tour, Killy stated: “As far as we are concerned, and according to our experts, everything is going according to plan. I wouldn’t have said that last year.

“We have seen colossal progress in the preparations for the Olympics. I am impressed by the construction process and people are working 24 hours a day, seven days a week,” he added.

The local organising committee has assured the IOC that 70 per cent of the construction work will be completed by next year, with the bobsled run expected to open in February.