Full coverage: Press conference on 3rd phase of Olympic ticket sales

Bloomberg

In the first phase and in phase two, the total numbers of tickets sold was roughly 4.8 million and domestic tickets to be sold were 3.5 million. So where are the remaining tickets? The second part of my question is that if I bought tickets during phase 1 when can I have those tickets in my hands?

Zhu Yan

As for phase 1, 2, 3 each phase had some tickets which haven't been sold yet. In addition, with the advancement of new constructions, the number of seats will change. The more we near the Games, the more correct the number, and ticket numbers will be finalized. It's not simple addition. As for the Olympic ticket sales we can say some tickets are for the domestic public and some for different countries and regions. Tickets will be reserved for different committees and different sponsors -- such as the IOC, corporate sponsors and broadcasters. Those tickets are in great numbers, and affect the total amount of tickets available. It's also hard for us to keep track of what tickets are domestic and foreign because you can transfer and give tickets as gifts to others.

Foreign Journalist

There are some sports that are not popular in China. What will you do if demand for the sports is not very high? Will you distribute any tickets for free to students or the elderly, for example unsold tickets for rowing, marathon swimming, and kayaking that are not very popular in China?

Zhu Yan

First of all, in the first two rounds of ticket sales, we sold tickets to all sessions and some are sold out already. Second we do not have ground or free tickets for the Olympic Games but we have educational plans for domestic primary and middle school students with combinations of popular and less popular sports and this work is going on very smoothly. That is all for the ticket release.

Wang Hui

We also want to make a quick announcement for the 100 Day Countdown Celebration. We will arrange activities on the 26th of this month. In Chaoyang Park, we will organize a long walk activity named "Beijing Smile, Volunteers for the Olympics, Building a Harmonious Society". The walk will start at 8.00 am. At that time some 6,000 people will participate in a long walk. That day, the morning of the 26th at 10.00 am, we will organize journalists to go to the Bird's Nest and we will invite some major sports venue media operations officials and directors to brief you on the media service on the Games time and encourage you to visit the main media center in the BIMC to see these two centers which will provide service for the journalists. Starting at 9.00 am we will gather here at the Media Center, and depart from there.

Next I want to talk about the very day of the 100 days countdown, April 30. There will be three activities. The first is at 9.00 am in the Olympics Center at the Bird's Nest and at the Water Cube, there will be a celebration of the Beijing Olympic Games countdown. We will have marathon running activities with the general public. The Beijing long run marathon will be 13 kilometers and the final 2 kilometers will be participated in by general public.

Secondly, in the afternoon in Workers' Stadium not too far from there, Smile Beijing will have a musical event for the general public. You're all invited to go there and have a visit.

At 8:00 pm, we will have the fourth round of Beijing Olympic songs collection and award giving ceremonies. This has been going on for four years. After four years of selections, we will have some awards for the best songs. This is open to the journalists but tickets are limited in number. For all three activities there will be a limited number of participants.

May 4, as you know, is Youth Day of China and we will all have a half day break. On that day we can organize you to go to Peking University and have some interviews for Olympic volunteers to let you know what they have prepared for the Olympics. This will be the end of my description. Thank you.