Sydney Games’ spectators were warned to allow up to four hours of travel time to get to their events and to leave as early as 5 a.m. from the city for morning competitions. Up to 400,000 people are expected to travel to Olympic Park for the start of track and field, and other events, more than double the previous record attendance for the site.
The uniforms of the 47,000 Games’ volunteers have joined the list of items appealing to souvenir collectors who are prepared to pay up to $5,000 (AUS) $2,700 (U.S.) for the hat, T-shirt and multi-coloured coats. Organizers are discouraging the volunteers who might be tempted to cash in.
And some get their souvenirs for free. Thieves have already stolen more than $55,000 worth of souvenirs from the main Olympic store. It seems that more than $13,750 worth of hats and shirts went missing in the first day of the Games alone.
Operators of Sydney hotels located in some areas of the city have slashed prices dramatically because of lack of demand, leaving hotel rooms empty.
The International Olympic Committee is investigating allegations that some national Olympic committees are selling tickets for a profit. The sale of tickets by the committees within a host country is a breach of IOC rules. Reports say tickets had originally been sold to five national Olympic committees including the United States and Switzerland. Sydney City Council closed a business recently that was selling Olympic tickets and some came from the Swiss Olympic Committee.
