First gold for Brazil spurs last-minute ticket sales, but many events still struggling to fill seats

Brazil’s first gold medal has boosted Olympic ticket sales and organisers expect attendances to pick up in coming days, although some venues including the Copacabana beach volleyball arena are still struggling to fill seats.

Judoka Rafaela Silva, who grew up in Rio’s notorious Cidade de Deus favela, burst into tears on Monday as she held up her medal to a roaring crowd as the Brazilian national anthem played.

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“There is nothing better for ticket sales than when the country wins its first gold,” Games spokesman Mario Andrada told reporters on Tuesday.

“Brazilians, as has been widely said, are late buyers, but it’s impossible to resist when you have the Games at home,” he said.

Some 100,000 new tickets were taken up on Monday, much better than the average of 10,000 per day about two weeks before the Rio 2016 Games kicked off. Around 82 per cent of tickets available for Monday were sold, Andrada added.

“We wish we could have done this before but we’re not complaining, we’re looking to the future and we’re going to sell more and more,” he said.