The £2,012 Olympics: London Games go for gold with ticket prices

The cost of tickets for the 2012 Olympic Games was announced yesterday, with some seats costing more than £2,000.

The costliest tickets will be £2,012 and will be for the best corporate seats at the opening ceremony on Friday, 27 July 2012. The organisers say the exorbitant prices are designed to allow them to sell the majority of tickets at more affordable prices.

The cheapest adult tickets will cost £20 and will allow access to high-profile sports including the qualifying rounds of the track-and-field and swimming events. Overall, 90 per cent of the tickets for the Games, which will be on sale from March, will cost less than £100, and 2.5 million of the 8.8 million tickets available will cost less than £20.

The London Organising Committee for the Olympic Games (Locog) has yet to announce exactly how many of the £20 tickets will be available, but it is likely they will apply to the seats with the least inspiring views. Children's tickets will be cheaper. A scheme which allows those under 16 to pay the same price as their age will be in operation for more than 200 of the 649 event sessions. More than 140,000 London schoolchildren will be given a free ticket for one event.

The most expensive event tickets will be for the men's 100m athletics final. Prices start from £50, but the best seats will cost £725. Most of the tickets are the same price regardless of whether the events are for women's or men's disciplines, with some notable exceptions. Tickets for the women's basketball final will start at £50 and rise to £325; for the men's final the same seats are £95 and £425. In football, the men's final will cost between £40 and £185 while the women's match will cost between £30 and £125.

Lord Coe, the London 2012 chairman, said: "We have three clear principles for our ticketing strategy: tickets need to be affordable and accessible to as many people as possible. Tickets are an important revenue stream for us to fund the Games and our ticketing plans have the clear aim of filling our venues to the rafters. When we won the right to stage the Games, we made a promise to inspire young people to choose sport and our ticket prices will get as many young people as possible to the Games."

The Olympics Minister, Hugh Robertson, said: "Spectators are a vital part of every Olympic Games, providing the atmosphere that inspires athletes to perform. I am confident we will have packed stadiums and venues with the range of tickets on offer, meaning that people of all ages and budgets will have the chance to attend London 2012."

The London Mayor Boris Johnson added: "Having invested so much, I also want Londoners to have a real sense that these are their Games too. So it is right that, through the schemes aimed at youngsters, we can acknowledge their support by rewarding thousands of London kids with the unique opportunity to be part of this amazing sporting spectacle."

Ticket prices

100m men's athletics final: £50-£725

Beach Volleyball final: £95-£450

Men's boxing final: £95-£395

Equestrian final: £65-£275

Track Cycling final: £50-£325

Canoe Slalom final: £35-£150

BMX final: £20-£125

Sailing final: £55

Shooting final: £40

Archery final: £30-£95

Triathlon: £20-£60

Weightlifting final: £45-£175

Tennis final: £65-£225