Due to the overwhelming demand from the public, families of British Olympic athletes have found themselves in the position of having to watch their loved ones compete from home.
As part of the European Union, British sports enthusiasts can purchase Olympic tickets from sellers across the EU, with each nation receiving its own ticket allocation.
Matt de Monte from London managed to secure over 20 tickets through official foreign vendors, enabling him to attend various events at the Games. Upon learning about Greene’s difficulties in obtaining tickets, he extended his support.
Greene’s girlfriend replied to De Monte’s Twitter message, assuring him that if he could help procure tickets for the Welsh athlete’s events, both she and Greene would reimburse him.
In just a week, De Monte had acquired eight tickets for Greene’s semi-final and final, initially spending £1,500 of his own funds to buy them.
A thrilled Greene expressed to BBC Sport his gratitude, amazed that a stranger would go out of their way to assist his family in such a manner.
“You don’t often hear stories like this. It’s usually all bad news – this is someone truly making an effort to help others.”
De Monte remarked, “It feels wonderful. Anything that can aid our athletes and Team GB in achieving more at the Olympics is amazing.”
Following Greene’s successful ticket acquisition, other sports fans have started using Twitter similarly to reach out to Olympians with offers of help.
A spontaneous group of five individuals utilized their knowledge of official foreign ticket vendors to collectively purchase 14 tickets for Olympic rowing gold medalist Zac Purchase.
Other British athletes have also begun to turn to Twitter in their quest for tickets for their families.
For those who have yet to succeed in securing tickets, the next round of sales by the London 2012 Organising Committee (Locog) is scheduled for April.
