London 2012 - 40,000 athletics seats for lucky losers

Over 40,000 seats for the athletics will be available when the remaining 1.3 million tickets for the Olympics go on sale in April, according to a report.

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The BBC claim there will be tickets available for all nine days of the athletics, offering an excellent chance for a select 20,000 fans who missed out in both ballots so far to get a chance to see something in the main Olympic stadium.

Those 20,000 disappointed fans were initally told that they had secured tickets in the second ballot, only to later be told that they had been unlucky after all because the Ticketmaster system was not "live".

Understandably, those fans were initially furious, but their anger turned to joy when they were promised preferential treatment for the final ballot in April. It is a decision that has led to them being branded the 'lucky losers' and annoyed those who intentionally applied for less popular sports so as to be able to see at least one event.

With each of those lucky losers set to be able to buy at least two tickets, the 40,000 athletics tickets are expected to be sold within their 24-hour preferential treatment period.

After that, the hundreds of thousands who missed out in both the ballots will be allowed to buy tickets; finally, after seven days, those who have yet to apply will be permitted to try and secure tickets. By that point it is expected that only football tickets will remain, though with nobody being permitted to buy seats for more than one session it is possible one or two other events may still have tickets left.

Also among the 1.3 million seats being sold in April are 50,000 seats for the basketball and 30,000 seats for the diving, and a few thousand for the opening ceremony - though less than 1,000 tickets for the track cycling at the velodrome are likely to be released.