The London Olympics organizing committee has come under fire for "obsessive secrecy" and "a chronic lack of transparency" over its refusal to give local politicians a breakdown of Olympics ticket pricing until the Games are over.

The London Assembly requested information on the number of tickets available for each price point at each session for the Games, after fears erupted that the bulk of cheap tickets available to the public (as opposed to those set aside for the media, public officials, and athletes' families) would only grant access to events like low-stakes soccer match-ups and Paralympic competitions.

Low-stakes soccer match-ups and Paralympic competitions are all well and good sometimes, but not when Michael Phelps is improvising his own personal triathlon (200m butterfly, women's pole vault, freestyle skiing, yes, a winter event; he does what he likes) one building over.

Organizing committee chief executive Paul Dreighton added to the outcry when he confirmed that the overall number of tickets available for the 100m dash final was only 58,500. The stadium hosting that event has a capacity of 80,000.

According to The Guardian, chair of the 2012 games, Sebastian Coe, responded to the criticism by swearing up and down that the organizing committee "would deliver on all of its promises – namely to get 75% of the 8.8m total into the hands of British public, with two-thirds at £50 or less and 'proportionate numbers of tickets at every price point.'"

And, if it should turn out after the fact that the committee was unable to deliver on these promises...Meh, what are you gonna do?

[Image via AP]