20th March 2012 04:11
The Helsinki Olympic Stadium that will host the 21st European Athletics Championships through 27 June to 1 July is rapidly filling up. With 100 days to go, 100,000 tickets – a figure nearing the stadium limit – have been sold or reserved for the event.
'Since opening sales for individual day tickets, trade has significantly increased. At the moment, the five-day stadium event has over 100,000 tickets sold or reserved,' said General Secretary Esa Honkalehto.
This figure does not include tickets reserved for media or seats reserved for volunteers and athletes.
'When these figures are included, we can comfortably say that, at the moment, more than half of the seats have been reserved for each race day. Our goal is to sell a total of 160,000 tickets and I think that we have quite a good chance of doing this, with the help of the Finnish and European sports fans,' said Honkalehto.
Teams of a hundred strong will descend on Helsinki
Speaking at the 100 days-to-go celebration, LOC President and European Athletics Council member Antti Pihlakoski expressed his delight with the strong response and interest in the championships from the big European countries.
'Germany, Russia, Great Britain, Poland and Spain are sending over 100 team members to attend the summer event. Finland will respond to this challenge by selecting about 60 of our top athletes from around Finland,' said Pihlakoski.
At the moment 12 athletes have been selected for the Finnish team, but the final number will be significantly higher when the registration period ends on 19 June.
'The home games are an extremely important goal for our team. We expect of course a level of medal success, but we also want to provide an unforgettable experience at a packed Olympic Stadium' said Pihlakoski.
The Rasmus provide the official competition song
Finnish band The Rasmus have been selected to provide the official Helsinki European Athletics Championships competition song. With over 3.5 million album sales worldwide, The Rasmus are considered one of Finland's best exports. The band will release their new album, self-titled 'The Rasmus', on 18 April 2012.
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