(Paris) The Paris Olympics, which begin in two weeks, have already set a new record for the number of tickets sold for a Games, excluding the Paralympics, with 8.6 million, compared to 8.3 million for the previous record held by Atlanta in 1996, Tony Estanguet told AFP on Thursday.
“It was a record held by the Atlanta Games in 1996, with 8.3 million tickets. So we have exceeded this score for some time now. We are at 8.6 on the Olympic part, plus 1 million on the Paralympic part,” assured Tony Estanguet.
There is no official ranking or reliable data on the number of tickets sold at previous Olympic Games, “only the International Olympic Committee (IOC) has these figures in its possession and it is also they who warned us,” assures the organizing committee.
When asked, the IOC had not responded by late Thursday afternoon.
Paris Olympic organizers expect to sell 10 million tickets for this edition (July 26–August 11) and 3.4 million for the Paralympic Games (August 28–September 8).
“The good news is also that we are putting a certain number of tickets back on sale in this final stretch for many sports,” continued Tony Estanguet.
“There are very good opportunities at different rates for the Olympic Games, for the Paralympic Games, for the opening and closing ceremonies,” added Tony Estanguet.
“We are proud to have already broken the record, but we can still go higher,” he said.