Empty Olympic seats prompt investigation
Olympic organizers are investigating why rows of seats at some venues were empty on the first full day of competition at the London Games.
Cameras captured rows of vacant spots for swimming heats, volleyball, gymnastics and equestrian events on the opening day of the Games on Saturday, even though the events were supposedly sold-out.
Britain's Culture Secretary Jeremy Hunt called the development "very disappointing" and said he believes the empty seats were set aside for corporate sponsors.
Hunt suggested the empty seats could be offered to members of the public.
A lot more empty seats could be seen Sunday morning at the North Greenwich Arena where the women's gymnastics qualification was taking place.
BBC Olympics correspondent James Pearce retweeted someone who posted a photo of the arena online and who described the scene as "disgraceful."
It appears the empty seats were largely in lower-tier VIP seating areas. The top tiers were "packed to the rafters" with "real fans" who should be allowed to move down after 10 minutes, the Twitter posting said.
