London organisers are keeping quiet about which Olympic tickets are in most demand until the current application period ends on April 26 but official hospitality package provider Prestige Ticketing is already noticing a clear buying pattern.
“There is no do doubt that the hottest ticket is beach volleyball,” says a company spokesman, which just goes to show that boys will be boys when it comes to corporate entertaining. Water polo packages are also selling fast thanks to healthy interest from eastern European companies.Despite the economic slowdown, Prestige says 6,000 firms have registered an interest in their packages with, predictably, City of London legal and financial sectors leading the way.
Prestige has secured around one per cent of the total number of tickets available and is selling packages with on-site entertainment for between £500 and £4,500 a head.
Job security for Wilkens: Life has imitated art for the second time since BBC 4 started screening Twenty Twelve, the spoof “mockumentary” about the hapless preparations for the London Olympics.
After the breakdown of the Countdown Clock in Trafalgar Square echoed the story line of episode one, this week’s plot about Olympic staff being unable to get in our or out of their offices due to heightened security measures overriding their pass codes has been mirrored by real life.
Miriam Wilkens, the British Olympic Association’s head of communications, paid the price for working late at the BOA’s West End headquarters when she found herself locked in. She remained incarcerated for 45 minutes until an engineer was summoned to reset the security codes.
Wanjiru faces rifle charge: This week’s announcement by Virgin London Marathon organisers that Olympic champion Sammy Wanjiru had withdrawn from the race on April 17 was rather economical with the facts.
The only explanation given was that a “knee injury” had forced Wanjiru to pull out, supported by a quote from the Kenyan that the problem had “not responded well enough for me to make my final preparations for London”.
No mention whatsoever of the attempted murder charge that had been hanging over him until his wife withdrew the accusation five weeks ago, or that he still faces a possible criminal charge for the illegal possession of an AK assault rifle.
Tweddle tuned in to Norton: Britain’s Beth Tweddle, the three-time world gymnastics champion, has come up with an unusual choice of music for the revamped floor routine which she hopes will win her gold at next year’s Olympics.
“It’s the theme tune to The Graham Norton Show,” says the 25-year-old, who hopes to perform the routine at next week’s European Championships in Berlin if she recovers in time from a calf strain.