Bradley Wiggins labels Olympic ticketing a 'shambles'

Triple Olympic gold medallist Bradley Wiggins has called the ticketing system for London 2012 a "shambles".

The 31-year-old has won medals at the last three Games and will compete in London for a fourth gold.

"I think, as most of the public feels, it's a bit of a shambles the ticket allocation," Wiggins told BBC Sport.

"It's a shame when you know what works so successfully in other Olympic Games, certainly Athens, that they couldn't implement those ticket systems here."

Despite the 2012 Games being held just a few miles from where Wiggins grew up, many of his family are unlikely to be present as they were unsuccessful in the first stage of the ticketing process.

"I'd love to have my family there," he said. "I grew up in London and would love to have my mum and everyone there watching me but you know that's the way it is I suppose, you just get on with it.

"It's a shame but there's nothing you can do about it."

The London 2012 Organising Committee (Locog) has already announced that up to 70,000 tickets out of the eight million originally available have been reserved so athletes from each country can buy two each to give to friends and family for every session in which they are competing.

A Locog statement read: "There has been unprecedented demand for cycling - every session and every price range was oversubscribed.

"Bradley and the team have made cycling one of the most popular sports at the London 2012 Games.

"We had over 22 million applications for tickets from the British public - this compares to the 15,000 Brits who travelled to Athens in 2004, so the big difference with our system is that demand has massively exceeded supply for a home Games.

"We have developed an "athlete friends and family initiative" - a first - which enables all cyclists to buy two tickets to every event they compete in, so their friends and family can be there."