Olympic medal winner Katharine Merry loses out in race for London Olympic tickets

Jul 24 2011 by Roz Laws, Sunday Mercury

OLYMPIC medal winner Katharine Merry is set to miss next year’s London games – after losing out in the controversial race for tickets.

And the athlete, who clinched 400m bronze in Sydney, says her only hope of attending live events is by becoming part of the BBC reporting team.

The former Birchfield Harrier, 36, was among hundreds of thousands of people who applied online for tickets, but she was only awarded three passes to watch badminton.

“I only applied for those for a friend, who is delighted!” said Katharine, who grew up in Dunchurch, near Rugby, and now lives in Solihull.

“Everyone thinks it must be easy for me to get tickets, like picking them up in Sainsburys, but I have to apply like everyone else.

“I asked for loads of different ones, for the opening ceremony, several athletics sessions and swimming.