Romain Rouillard / Photo credit: SERGE TENANI / HANS LUCAS / HANS LUCAS VIA AFP
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10:03 p.m., May 18, 2023
Spectators who think they have purchased tickets for a specific athletics event on the Paris 2024 ticket office end up with tickets that do not correspond to the session initially targeted. In question, a change in the calendar which has not been passed on to the online platform.
The ticket office for Paris 2024 never ceases to cause headaches. After the tickets deemed too expensive and too few, it is now a problem of scheduling certain events that is pointed out. On the online platform, several spectators, who had targeted certain athletics events, were quickly disillusioned. Because the latter will not finally take place on the dates initially planned and have therefore been replaced by other events.
While it was to be held on the evening of August 6, the women’s 5,000m final was thus brought forward to the evening of August 5. Ticket holders for August 6 must, for the time being, mourn the event they wanted to attend. A failure that the organizing committee has recognized and tried to justify. “The online version was an earlier version of the International Federation (World Athletics). This is not a first, the ticketing specialists know that it can happen, it is also written on the site that the programs may have to evolve. This could still be the case, even if we don’t hope for it because for us it is a real challenge every time. We will treat this with a lot of attention and rigor”, declared the boss of the Cojo, Tony Estanguet, quoted by The Team.
“If they want to be expensive, they should at least be quality!”
Naturally, the imbroglio was quick to react on social networks, the prices for athletics being among the most prohibitive with tickets going up to 980 euros. Some athletes even took the floor to share their disappointment. “Relatives told me that they had bought tickets for a particular discipline, for example the 5,000m, and with the calendar error they ended up with a session that they did not want. They wanted to see the 5,000m and will find themselves having to see the 200m or the javelin”, wrote on Instagram Jimmy Gressier, European record holder for the 5km.
Much more acerbically, Alice Finot, vice-champion of Europe indoors in the 3,000m did not hesitate to qualify this hiccup as “unacceptable”, pinning down the ticket prices in passing. “If they want to be expensive, let them at least make quality!”, She scolded in an Instagram story. In an attempt to calm the discontent, Tony Estanguet promises to “find the best solution” with the people concerned whose exact number is unknown. “We will inform everyone involved in these sessions. We apologize, we are really sorry,” he concludes.