Sochi Winter Olympics organizers "are asking volunteers to fill some of the empty seats at venues during competition," according to Karolos Grohmann of REUTERS.
Some 70% of tickets "were sold prior to the event in the Russian Black Sea resort and briefs have also been put on sale at ticket offices in the city."
But with some venues having empty seats due to fans arriving late, tight security checks and departing Russian spectators, organizers "want to make sure the pictures broadcast around the world show full stadiums." Sochi Games spokesperson Alexandra Kosterina said, "As with every organizing committee, we do have the motivation program, personal motivation program, so those volunteers who are not in shifts might take part in it" (REUTERS, 2/10). BLOOMBERG's Stepan Kravchenko wrote Kosterina said that "almost 60,000 people bought tickets to events" Sunday, the second full day of competiton at the Olympics. She said that "while there are empty seats, there is demand." Some people "had to wait in line for as long as four hours over the weekend in the town to get spectator tickets," which allow them into the Olympic Parks. Organizers "are aware of the delays and are trying to find solutions" (BLOOMBERG, 2/10). The Sochi Games sold out of all of its tickets for the third day of competition, and SOCOG President & CEO Dmitry Chernyshenko said he expects sell-outs to continue in the days ahead. “All the venues are full, absolutely full,” Chernyshenko said during a sponsor event on Monday (Tripp Mickle, Staff Writer).
