We're Not Showering Libya With Olympics Tickets: IOC

Now rep says it is following a 'wait and see' policy
By Kate Seamons,  Newser Staff
Posted Jun 15, 2011 7:50 AM CDT
We're Not Showering Libya With Olympics Tickets: IOC
Moammar Gadhafi.   (AP Photo/FIDE Press service)

Now it looks like the Gadhafis and their nearest and dearest may not get to sit poolside and take in 10-meter diving at the London Olympics. Following the uproar that broke out after the Telegraph revealed that one of Gadhafi's sons, who heads up Libya's National Olympic Committee, was awarded some 1,000 tickets for next year's games, the International Olympic Committee did some frantic backpedaling this morning. "To be absolutely clear, no tickets have been printed or paid for," said an IOC rep, and Libya will not receive any "until the current situation becomes clearer."

The IOC will follow a "wait and see policy" and withhold Libya's tickets "until we can be absolutely certain that the tickets can be used correctly," he added. Libya was able to get its hands on the tickets in the first place because the IOC did not expel it from the Games, forcing London organizers to let Gadhafi begin doling out tickets, reports the Telegraph. (More Moammar Gadhafi stories.)

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