A Beijing Olympics official said on Monday that a total of 290,288 spectators watched the Games competition on Sunday.

Sun Weide, a media official with the Beijing Olympic Games Organizing Committee, said at a press conference:"On Aug. 10 alone, we received 290,288 spectators and 512 teams in all the venues with 3,865 athletes, 2,774 team officials, 1,254 technicians and 7,731 journalists."

Asked why there were some empty seats in the stands in certain matches despite the organizers' claim that all tickets of the Games were sold out, Sun said:"I think there are some misunderstandings on this issue."

He took Sunday's beach volleyball competition as an example, which began at 9 a.m. but had sold tickets for the whole morning. "Some ticket holders may prefer to watch the competition beginning at 11 o'clock, so maybe the venues were not full at 9 a.m., but I believe at 11 a.m. the venue would be packed with spectators," Sun explained.

Giselle Davies, spokesperson of the International Olympic Committee, added:"We have seen in the previous Olympic Games that the venues are not filled to the capacity. Also, we can be mindful of the fact that the organizers did not have a lot of luck on Sunday with the weather."

(Xinhua News Agency August 11, 2008)