Tickets have gone on sale for the London 2012 Olympic Games as organisers celebrate 500 days until the opening ceremony.
How to buy a ticket
The 42-day application process is open from March 15 until April 26, with the 6.6 million tickets allocated by ballot through www.tickets.london2012.com – not on a first-come-first-served basis, meaning there is no advantage in applying early.
Only Visa credit/debit cards will be accepted and applicants will be required to pay for every ticket they are allocated.
Paper application forms can be picked up from your local Lloyds TSB branch (or Bank of Scotland in Scotland only) and your local library in Northern Ireland.
Once the application process is complete, payment will be taken from all successful applicants between Tuesday May 10, 2011 and Friday June 10. Unwanted tickets can be re-sold through the official London 2012 website only.
Applicants are restricted to a maximum of 20 sessions throughout the Games. Remember, there’s no immediate rush to buy tickets, so digest the full competition schedule, which is available to view online here.
Road race and time trial
Access to the Olympic road race course is largely free, although if plan on watching Mark Cavendish sprint down the finishing straight on The Mall, tickets are priced at £20, £40 or £60.
The men’s race takes place on the first full day of the Games, July 28, with the women’s race 24 hours later. The course heads out into the lanes of Surrey before the men’s peloton takes on nine laps of a Box Hill circuit, with the women’s field completing two, leaving a long, flat run-in back to the capital.
The time trial, on August 1, is one of the few completely free events to watch and starts and finishes at Henry VIII’s former home, Hampton Court Palace. The men’s field will contest a 44km course, while the women’s event will run over a 29km route.
Track cycling
Great Britain’s track cyclists, who continue their preparations at the World Championships later this month, won 12 medals at the Beijing Games in 2008 and the 6,000 seater velodrome in London, completed last month, is likely to be home to some of the most sought after tickets.
The track programme will run from August 2 until August 7, with tickets ranging from £20 to £325. Medals will be contested in all but two of the nine sessions.
MTB/BMX
If knobbly tyres take your fancy, Frenchman Julian Absalon will look to defend his title on August 12. Tickets for both the men’s event and the women’s race, 24 hours earlier, cost either £20 or £45.
That leaves the final two-wheeled event – BMX. Construction began on the dirt track last week, with the Olympic showdown to take place between August 8 and August 10, with tickets ranging from £20 to £125.
What else?
All in all, tickets are available for 645 sessions, across 26 sports, at 34 venues. Applicants are restricted to a maximum of 20 sessions throughout the duration of the Games. Applications for Paralympic Games tickets open on September 9, 2011
The opening ceremony will take place on July 27, with a seat in the Olympic Stadium to set you back between £20.12 and £2,012, while the curtain will come down on August 12.
The hottest ticket in town will be for the 100m final on August 5, where the chance to see Usain Bolt win gold will cost between £50 and £725.
London 2012 chairman Lord Sebastian Coe said: “This is a momentous moment for all involved in London 2012. This starts the journey for those who have been dreaming of getting hold of an Olympic ticket since the day we won the bid in 2005 – these really are the greatest tickets on earth.
“In the UK, people have 42 days to make their application and I urge everyone to take a look at what sports are available on what days and make their choice. If any sessions are oversubscribed we will run a ballot which we think is the fairest way of allocating tickets.”
