BEIJING (CelebrityAccess MediaWire) — The head of the group responsible for organizing the ticketing for the upcoming Olympic games to be held in China has apparently been sacked after demand overwhelmed the system, leaving it offline for several weeks.
According to the AFP, Shao Shiwei, the vice-director of media and communications for the committee introduced Zhu Dan who will take over for Rong Jun, who formerly occupied the position.
Before being elevated to such lofty heights, Zhu was an government IT specialist and it seems likely that his appointment was designed to demonstrate that the ticketing team's technical capabilities are being ramped up accordingly.
Online tickets were supposed to go on-sale on October 30 but the first-come first-served approach led to the system being entirely overwhelmed by the demand, with an estimated 1.8 million ticket-seekers being left in the cold. A lottery system is being implemented now and online ticket sales are planned to restart on Dec. 10.
According to the AFP, more than 7 million tickets to the Olympic games are being sold with 75% being sold to Chinese. No official mention was made of the unfortunate Mr. Zhu.- CelebrityAccess Staff Writers
