This year’s London Diamond League meet, taking place at Olympic Stadium and featuring world record sprinter Usain Bolt and British gold medalists Mo Farah and Jessica Ennis, sold out 75 minutes after going on sale Friday morning, organizers said.
The two-day event, July 26-27, is being billed as the “Anniversary Games” and will take place exactly one year after the London Olympics Opening Ceremony last summer. The stadium holds somewhere between 50-60,000 people, but tickets were only available to those who had pre-registered.
Other Olympic stars headlining the London event include gold medalists Greg Rutherford of Great Britain, Sally Pearson of Australia, Carmelita Jeter of the U.S., and Kirani James of Grenada.
Save for the Olympics, Bolt hasn’t run in London since 2009 because of tax laws that would have forced him to give up portions of his prize money and endorsements. But Bolt and the other “non-resident athletes” have been given an exemption to lure them to London for the event. Apparently it worked.
South African sprinter Oscar Pistorius has been cleared by the courts to race at international events, but won’t be welcome in London because organizers are concerned about the media circus he’ll bring and believe his appearance would overshadow the rest of the event.