A push to fill empty London Olympic seats

LONDON -- Troops, teachers and students are getting free tickets to fill prime seats that were empty at some Olympic venues on the first full day of competition.

The games' chairman, Sebastian Coe, answered widespread criticism Sunday by predicting that seats left unused, largely by Olympic and sports officials, will not be an issue as the games proceed.

"I do take that seriously," Coe said when asked about the vacant seats. "I don't want to see swaths of those seats empty, and that is why we will make sure where we possibly can that we get people into those seats as and when they are not being used."

The issue is sensitive for Olympic organizers and British sports fans after hundreds of thousands of people failed to get tickets in an initial public ballot.