London Olympics: Many Tickets 'Too Expensive'

The high cost of tickets for Olympic medal sessions in athletics, track cycling and swimming has been criticised by the London Assembly.

With the cheapest tickets selling for £50, the Assembly's economy committee says there are lessons to be learned for future sporting events in the capital.

In a report called The Price Of Gold, the committee says sports fans paid an average of £333 to see Mo Farah win the men's 5,000m final.

Almost 60% of people who bought a ticket for the men's 100m final paid more than £294, while seeing Tom Daley land bronze in the 10m platform diving cost an average of £203.

London 2012 has been rightly praised for staging a "hugely successful" Games which were a "fantastic spectacle," the report says.

It also applauds affordable tickets plans such as the Pay your Age scheme for children, which also saw those over 60 pay a £16 flat fee.

Jamaica's Usain Bolt winning the men's 100m final

But although London 2012 kept its promise to spread tickets evenly across its five price categories, the amounts charged "varied between sessions and, for a large number, were skewed towards the high end".

The committee said the average ticket price for Olympic athletics medal sessions was £231.88, with a fifth of tickets costing more than £400.

Committee chairman Andrew Dismore said: "For many ordinary people, the lack of available affordable tickets for certain sessions meant there was little chance of them being in the crowd to see their sporting heroes win gold.

"Given that ticket sales massively exceeded their target, this was a missed opportunity to reward those taxpayers who funded the Games and inspire a generation to participate in sport.

"We must learn the lessons from London Olympics and Paralympics if we are to host future sporting championships successfully."

Britain's Tom Daley on his way to bronze in the diving

The committee accepted the principle of charging more for medal sessions but suggested there should be a minimum number of affordable tickets available at future events.

It also recommended a minimum proportion of tickets for the public for each session as well as an overall target for the entire competition.

London 2012 raised £657m from ticket sales, easily beating its target of £500m, the committee noted.

A London 2012 spokesman said: "We needed to raise the money to stage the Games, but we also wanted to ensure they were accessible and affordable to as many people as possible.

"We feel we achieved this with more than 75% going to the public for the Olympic Games and 91% for the Paralympic Games."

Among future sporting events being hosted in London are the 2015 European field hockey championships, the 2017 athletics world championships and the 2017 Paralympic athletics world championships.

The capital has also bid for the 2014 European swimming championships and the 2015 track cycling world championships.

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