Sydney Turns Down Nebiolo Request For Free Tickets
30 AprilOrganisers of the Sydney Olympics have turned down a request for almost 20,000 free tickets from International Amateur Athletics Federation (IAAF) president Primo Nebiolo. Michael Knight, president of the Sydney organising committee, said the IAAF chief had been told there would be no free tickets available.
Nebiolo said he was disappointed by the response but was confident a deal could be struck with the International Olympic Committee (IOC), Knight said. "I think President Nebiolo has accepted that we will not be giving him free tickets," Knight told a news conference. "He did, of course, leave open the possibility of being subsidised by the IOC but that's a matter between the IOC and the international federations."
Speaking on Friday at the conclusion of the IOC's executive board meeting in Sydney, Nebiolo said he had wanted the tickets for sponsors and officials. He said the IAAF had more than 200 affiliated member nations and he did not think it was unreasonable for each to be given "two or three tickets" for each of the 15 track and field sessions during the Games.
Nebiolo made the same request to organisers of the 1996 Atlanta Olympics but was turned down.
"We believe that in a stadium of 110,000 there are possibilities to give tickets to the people who are leading the sport," he said. "I don't know if the problem can be solved by the organising committee but I believe we will find a solution. "In Atlanta, the IOC gave us US$400,000 and we spent the money to buy the majority of the tickets we needed."
IOC President Juan Antonio Samaranch reiterated his position that the decision of who opened the Sydney Olympics was a matter for the local organising committee. Under the IOC's Charter, the honour of opening the Games is awarded to the head of state, which in Australia's case is Britain's Queen Elizabeth II. But a number of leading figures, including Australia's monarchist Prime Minister John Howard, believe an Australian should open the Games.
"This is not our business," Samaranch said. "(the local organisers) need to make a proposal to the IOC and you can be sure that this proposal will be accepted."
