Olympics: Organizers boast strong ticket sales for Paris Games

A record 9.56 million tickets were sold for the Paris Olympics while the Paralympics achieved their second-highest ticket sales of 2.58 million, the local organizing committee said Friday, Kyodo reports. 

Both sets of final numbers represent about 95 percent of tickets that went on sale. The games were a success in all aspects, Tony Estanguet, head of the committee, told a press conference in Saint-Denis, just outside Paris.

The first opening ceremony outside a stadium in Summer Olympic history went ahead without major trouble after a massive number of police officers and soldiers were deployed on the streets.

Estanguet also stressed that the triathlon had been well organized despite a schedule change caused by the poor water quality of the Seine River.