London 2012 Olympics: 2m signed up, say organisers

Image caption, Tickets for the public go on sale in March

Two million people have signed up for tickets for the London 2012 Olympics, chief executive Paul Deighton has said.

Organisers were preparing for the "mind-boggling" task of co-ordinating sales, he said, as well as planning and managing seats for the 8.8m tickets.

The London 2012 organisation needs to raise 25% of its revenue from ticket sales and generate 拢2bn from the private sector.

Some 6.6m tickets for the public go on sale in March 2011.

'Extraordinary demands'

Mr Deighton said: "The sheer scale of this is mind-blowing. Just the operational stuff is mind-blowing."

He added that he expected the number of people on the organisers' database to rise to 2.5m by the time tickets were made available.

"It is a year of extraordinary demands in getting ready for the Games and in terms of operational delivery," he said.

Officials have gone back on a pledge made in November 2004 that prices would begin at 拢15 with at least half costing 拢30 or less.

Now organisers say 90% of tickets will be 拢100 or less, 66% less than 拢50 and about 25% 拢20 or less.

Adult tickets for an Olympic event start at 拢20 and end at 拢725 for the most expensive seats at the 100m athletics final.

Seats at the opening ceremony will cost between 拢20.12 and 拢2,012.

Mr Deighton insisted said it had been necessary to make "adjustments" to the pricing structure.

He added: "Those people who say they are not cheap enough are the people who would be complaining if we could not sell enough tickets that we would have to go back to government."