Additional tickets released for Olympics

LONDON, July 30 (UPI) -- British Culture Secretary Jeremy Hunt announced an additional 3,000 tickets for various Olympic events were made available Monday at the London 2012 Web site.

Hunt said Olympic organizers reclaimed 3,000 seats Sunday night initially reserved for the International Sports Federations and the International Olympic Committee, BBC reported.

The announcement was motivated by public outcry from Britons over the number of empty seats at the events, The Daily Telegraph reported. Organizers said seating for IOC members and Sports Federation members is down 15 percent from previous Games.

Hunt also said he plans to introduce a policy releasing IOC tickets back to the public if they are not filled within the first 30 minutes of an event.

"We're looking at whether we're able to do it. But, we are hosting this event under a contractual arrangement we have with the International Olympic Committee and Sports Federations, and so we do have to respect what we've agreed to contractually, what we had to agree to contractually in order to get London to host the Games."