New Survey Reveals Public’s Ploys to Secure Olympic Tickets

March 9, 2011

According to a new 3,000 participant survey by vouchercodes.co.uk, 1 in 10 men are willing to sacrifice their wedding budgets, while 1 in 5 women will ditch their summer holidays to secure tickets for London 2012.

Unsurprisingly the survey revealed that that tickets for the men’s 100-metre sprint races will be the most sought-after, despite the actual race being likely to last under 10 seconds. The race should feature a mouth-watering showdown between Jamaican superstar Usain Bolt and his great American rival Tyson Gay, will be £725 (US$1,180) when they go on sale next week.

This is relatively low when compared to the £20.12 to £2,102 ($32.74 to $3,274) for the opening ceremony and £1,500 ($2,440) for the closing.

The second most popular event was Women’s swimming, which is almost certain to see Britain’s double Beijing 2008 Olympic champion Rebecca Adlington in action, just ahead of diving where Britain’s 16-year-old sensation Tom Daley is tipped to be a strong gold medal prospect in the men’s 10m platform event.

Reporting that 42 per cent of people claim they would sell their belongings to bag an Olympics ticket, vouchercodes.co.uk co-founder Duncan Jennings stated: “Now the Olympic timetable and ticket prices have been released, the excitement around London 2012 is building to fever pitch.

“With higher prices for the most popular events, people are already thinking about what they will have to give up in order to make their dreams a reality.”

Despite the huge ticket prices involved, some Londoners are hoping to make a profit when the city hosts the Games, with 1 in 10 London homeowners planning to sub-let their homes during the Olympics to take advantage of the close proximity of their properties to the Games.

Jennings added: “While the Olympics are a dream ticket, it’s important to shop smart when securing tickets and be aware of the potential pitfalls of subscribing for more tickets than you can afford.”

London 2012 chief executive Paul Deighton has already fired a warning regarding illegal tickets found at the Games, saying his organisation are working closely with the Metropolitan Police to make life “very difficult and very painful” for any touts trying to sell counterfeit tickets.