Olympic family’s shame

Organizers of the London Olympic Games have taken timid steps to solve the problem of empty seats at some of the most popular venues, but they’re certainly not going to win any medals.

Soldiers and schoolchildren have been brought in to fill the holes after rows of vacant seats were spotted on the weekend at swimming heats, volleyball, gymnastics and dressage events. The problem is still persisting.

The failure to put the tickets into the hands of those who can best use them — fans who have travelled from around the globe — has drawn understandable criticism, particularly since the spectacle of a sea of unused seats was a blemish on the Beijing Games four years ago, and should have served as an opportunity to do better.

As a start, organizers should appeal to the bigwigs who were provided with the free tickets to either use them, or turn them in so they can be sold.

They could even be donated to folks living on a limited income, similar to the Kids Up Front initiative in Calgary, which transforms tickets that would otherwise be unused into a noble purpose.

Moving forward, the Olympic organization itself needs to review how many seats are set aside for the so-called Olympic family.

After all, it’s a pretty shabby family that doesn’t show up to cheer on its best athletes on their big day.