London - Thousand of seats were left empty at the Olympic stadium in Rio on Friday as the athletics events began.
It was the latest blow for South America’s first Olympics which has been dogged by controversy and poor attendances.
There were empty seats at virtually every venue despite several medals being decided, with football and tennis among the worst hit.
Organisers were not helped by appalling weather in the morning that saw rain lashing the city with the mountains shrouded in mist.
The lack of backing from Brazilians for the Olympics is becoming an embarrassment for Rio’s chiefs.
Nearly a million tickets remain unsold and on Friday at the main sales offices outside the Olympic park tickets were available for all sports with short queues for those wishing to buy on the day.
The situation has not been helped by problems getting into venues and with the transport system. Rio organizing committee spokesman Mario Andrada admitted TV pictures of barely half-full venues were a ‘problem’.
He said: ‘Some of the events have massive crowds and atmosphere but we have to fix other problems.’
Daily Mail