Olympic ticket black market thriving despite 'crackdown'

A thriving black market in tickets was operating on Saturday outside the main Olympic venues with money openly changing hands despite China's claim of a crackdown on scalpers.Dozens of Chinese ticket touts were working the crowds and attracting brisk business under the noses of police officers, some even holding banners advertising the tickets they had for sale."Uniformed and plainclothes police are hanging around to keep public order mainly, but they are also watching us," said Zhou Haixin, a clothing salesman from Shandong province in northern China."I'm here making a bit of money on the side," he said as he offered tickets for athletics finals for later on Saturday at more than 10 times their face value.Chinese and foreigners from around the world were among the buyers, with many punters searching in vain to gain entry to the "Water Cube" to see US swimmer Michael Phelps' shot at a record-equalling seventh gold medal.Tickets for Saturday's diving semi-finals with China's golden diva Guo Jingjing were selling for 4,000 yuan (580 dollars), up from the original price of 150 yuan.However entrance to the "Bird's Nest" Olympic stadium to see Chinese track icon Liu Xiang defend his title in the 110m hurdles on Thursday would cost upwards of 5,000 yuan.Olympic organisers have said that every ticket for the events in Beijing was sold out in advance, but many visitors have complained that venues are half empty during competition.Scalping Olympic tickets is illegal in China. On Friday, Beijing police detained 110 people, including at least one foreign national, for touting Olympic tickets near Games venues, official Xinhua news agency reported.

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