Sochi calls on volunteers to fill venues

Sochi Winter Olympics organisers are asking volunteers to fill some of the empty seats at venues during competition, they said on Monday. Some 70 per cent of tickets were sold prior to the event in the Russian Black Sea resort and briefs have also been put on sale at ticket offices in the city. But with some venues having empty seats due to fans arriving late, tight security checks and departing Russian spectators, organisers want to make sure the pictures broadcast around the world show full stadiums.

"As with every organising committee, we do have the motivation programme, personal motivation programme, so those volunteers who are not in shifts might take part in it," Sochi Games spokeswoman Alexandra Kosterina told reporters. "It depends on the events. If we see that there is not a turnout and there are seats available then, yes, we invite some of the volunteers to join in."

Some venues have seen empty seats, especially at events where Russian fans pack in to see one of their athletes but leave after they have competed. On Sunday, stands at the men’s ski jumping were about 85 per cent full. After Russian jumper Mikhail Maksimochkin - the eighth last man to go - put in a very disappointing second jump, hundreds of Russian fans immediately began streaming towards the exits. By the time Poland’s Kamil Stoch won the gold medal the tribunes were about half empty. The situation was similar in the speed skating venue on Saturday. Sven Kramer, one of the sport’s biggest names, was crowned 5,000m champion in a far from full venue as home fans left in their droves after Russian skaters finished competing.

The sight of empty seats was a major concern at the start of the 2012 London Olympics while the Beijing 2008 summer Games also deployed volunteers to fill empty seats in the early rounds of some comeptitions.

Reuters