Speaking on Monday, Wang Wei from the Beijing Olympic Organizing Committee gave the official line.

NPR: Why Are There So Many Empty Seats In Beijing?

One reason G4S may have struggled is that the London Olympic organizing committee, known as Locog, reportedly encouraged the firm to keep wages for its security staff as low as possible during the games.

FORBES: The Army And 'Brand Police' Swoop On London Olympics

In the late 1990s, charges surfaced that members of the Salt Lake Organizing Committee had bribed International Olympic Committee (IOC) officials to choose their city as host.

FORBES: For Embattled FIFA, Lessons from the Salt Lake City Winter Olympics Crisis

The International Olympic Committee has even asked the Beijing organizing committee to allow more people in.

NPR: Why Are There So Many Empty Seats In Beijing?

Among the dignitaries present were International Olympic Committee president Jacques Rogge and London organizing committee chairman Sebastian Coe.

CNN: 2012 Olympic flame lit in ancient stadium

The London Organizing Committee of the Olympic Games (LOCOG) early estimate of a need for 10, 000 security guards has now jumped to 23, 700.

CNN: London 2012 Olympics bill set to rise again, report says

London has spent seven years planning to hold the Games and a spokesman from the London Organizing Committee of the Olympic and Paralympic Games (LOCOG) told CNN last week that every eventuality had been accounted for.

CNN: British weather posing Olympics challenge, admits Coe

The London organizing committee offered Britons a chance to buy Olympic tickets through a complicated multistage lottery and set up a resale program to allow for the authorized resale of unwanted tickets.

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