Olympics: More build-up bungles

By SUZANNE McFADDEN

The bungles continue in the build-up to the greatest show on earth.

First Kevan Gosper, the IOC vice-president who can't keep out of the news, came out this week saying SOCOG had botched up ticket sales and finally admitted his daughter Sophie probably shouldn't have been one of the first Olympic torchbearers as the flame left Greece.

Sales of the nine million tickets have not gone smoothly - organisers lost almost $1 million in a printing error, some punters missed out when the first batch went on sale, and then there was the discovery that thousands of tickets had been secretly put aside for the rich.

The latest fluff-up was the accidental unveiling of the Olympic cauldron - a retractable black tower with a round lid - before the eagle-eyed media at the Olympic stadium.

Officials quickly tried to cover it up, saying the unfinished masterpiece would look totally different on the opening ceremony come September 15.

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