Sebastien Coe thrilled as 20million ticket requests are submitted for London 2012 Games

Sebastian Coe said he was 'thrilled' with the response from the British public after more than 20million ticket requests were received for the London 2012 Olympics.

Organisers announced the figures with 1.8million people having submitted applications for tickets and many sports already selling out their allocation including track cycling, rhythmic gymnastics, triathlon, modern pentathlon, and equestrian (cross country).

The opening and closing ceremonies are also sell-outs and will have a ballot to decide ticket allocations as will most of the sessions in swimming and tennis, and the high-profile athletics sessions.

London 2012 chairman Coe said: 'We are thrilled with the response right across the board, in all sports and all sessions.

'Certain events have seen massive demand - for example the opening ceremony, which is more than 10 times oversubscribed, so there will understandably be disappointment and we will find a way to go back to those people with other tickets.

'What is most encouraging is that the majority of applications are for multiple tickets and for several sports, which shows that friends and family are planning to go to the Games together.'

More than half of the 650 sessions are oversubscribed and tickets for these will be allocated via ballots. Some 6.6million tickets have been on sale to the public from March 15 until the window closed at 1am this morning.

London 2012 say they will now check applications before running computerised ballots for those sessions which are oversubscribed.

Money will be taken from people's accounts from May 10 but they will not receive formal confirmation of which events they have been successful in buying tickets for until June.

There will be another chance to buy remaining tickets in June and July.

London 2012 added that more than 95% of the applications came from the UK.

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London 2012 Olympics: Games organisers claim ticket sales have 'hit the roof'

"Every day is different, but also in the last week we have been getting three or four times the applications above and beyond what was coming in for the previous five weeks - and the sky's the limit based on the pattern that I am seeing at the moment."

There are 650 sessions across 26 sports and 17 days to choose from and people will be limited to a maximum of 20 events each.

The most popular events, including the men's 100 metres final, have a limit of four tickets per person.

Before sales began on March 15, more than 2.5 million people had signed up to the official website wanting to go to the Games.

This wave of sales, in which sports fans will find out whether or not they have secured tickets by June 24, is "the best chance probably by a long long way to get the tickets that you actually want," Deighton said.

"Anyone who wants to get to the Games should absolutely get their applications done - there is no doubt about that.

"There will be a number of tickets left over. It was always the plan.

"If you are clear about what kind of tickets you desire, apply for them now. You will only regret it if you do not get around to it, and it will be much more difficult if you leave it."

Prices range from £20 to £2,012.

They include paying up to £2,012 for the opening ceremony, up to £725 for the showpiece 100m athletics final and between £50 and £325 for the track cycling finals.

A seat at the opening ceremony is on many people's wishlist, buying patterns so far suggest. Many fans are also making multiple bids for seats at different events.

"Taking the £20.12p tickets for the opening ceremony, I think we can confidently predict that there will be more orders than availability," according to Deighton.

Orders have been "pretty well-spread" across the sports, he said, adding: "I think that a lot of people are ordering quite a number of tickets. Families seem to be ordering so they can go together."

A random automated ballot will kick in for over-subscribed events.

The process of matching the demand and the different-priced tickets with the sessions available will then start.

Applications will be processed between May 2011 and June 2011.

Notifications, by email or letter, for those who have been successful, will be sent in June 2011.

London 2012 needs to get 25 per cent of its revenue from ticket sales. It is a vital part of raising £2 billion from the private sector to stage the Games.

Applications for Paralympic Games tickets open on September 9 2011.

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