Did you get any of the late allocation?

The fiasco that is Olympic ticketing continues. And for once, it is no fault of Locog, who have simply been abiding by an agreement signed seven years ago that a certain proportion of tickets had ot be set aside for the 'Olympic Family' which basically means the professional bodies across the world which support and foster sports.

The same thing apparently happened in Beijing, but with China still being the closed country that it is we knew very little about it. It is an absolute outrage that these organisations get such a large allocation and then waste it when there are so many ordinary people that want to support the games and spend their hard earned money in doing so.

The late release of tickets for some high profile and prestige events such as the athletics has, of course, made many Londoners and locals very pleased; they have been able to buy access to key events which they desperately wanted to see and for which they had been previously unsuccessful.

And of course it is better for athletes of all countries to have full stadia watching and cheering them on. It is immeasurably better for the Olympic Authority to promote the venues and gain the desired levels of income to bolster the economy. In addition, full stadia mean more people spending money in shops, restaurants, bars and on public transport.

I was not myself interested in going to anything, I just don't like sport enough, but I know many people who were and are now delighted. Good luck to them, and i hope it didn't cost them an arm and a leg.

The IOC really needs to address this issue before the next games in 2016. A far smaller proportion of tickets should be set aside and if the Olympic Family organisations want more then they should have to bid for them like anyone else. That way lies fairness, transparency and good PR. Let's hope that the lessons of the ticketing problems here (including use of Visa only even on the Olympic site, venues that are too large for the expected crowds, unfair allocations to large organisations and sponsors etc) are learned for 2016 and rectified.

Sadly, I suspect money will talk and the situation will not be a great deal better. At least it won't be our economy and image that suffers, and probably it won't affect us hugely in terms of the number of people that can attend since South America is so far away. But nevertheless, it is just plain wrong, and totally not in the spirit of the Olympics and their wider aim of making sport more accessible to the masses.

Are you listening Mr Chairman of the IOC Jacques Rogge or whatever your name is? I doubt it.