Another Jesse Owens to experience Olympic thrill

Sydney: Jesse Owens is about to have a second Olympic coming. Sixty-four years after the son of an Alabama sharecropper astounded the world - and embarrassed Adolf Hitler - by winning four gold medals in Berlin, another Jesse Owens is about to experience the thrill of the Olympics.

Like the athlete he was named after, Jesse, a 11-year-old Sydney boy, has faced hardship throughout his life. His mother is still battling to pay off his father's funeral, held two years ago.

But Jesse, whose father, Percy, was believed to be a cousin of the Olympic legend, is about to realise his dream to see the world's finest athletes march in the Olympic opening.

Because of Jesse's love of athletics - 18 school championship medals are proudly displayed on his bedroom wall - Olympic sponsor Westpac Bank and the Learning for Life programme for disadvantaged children, chose to award him two A-class opening ceremony tickets, worth $1382 each.

His mother, Michelle Owens, said, "He can't wait. He doesn't saymuch, but you should have heard him on the telephone telling his friends when he found out."

Making ends meet has always been a challenge for the Owens family, even before Percy, a jazz musician who grew up in Ohio, died of leukemia two years ago.

Three days after his father's death, Jesse basked on his electric organ outside a rugby league match, raising $175 to pay for a memorial plaque that is displayed in the front garden of the family's housing commission home in Sydney's north.

Jesse, a keen 800m and 200m runner, and a soccer player, nods when asked if he wants to one day compete at an Olympics. He names Cathy Freeman as his favourite Olympian.

"It would be good to see her march," he says. His heart is torn, though, when asked whether he would compete for the US or Australia. "Maybe both."

Jesse has hung above his bed a US flag presented to his family by the US government in recognition of his father's 12 years' service in the US Army.

Two million seats to fill: Games sales blitz begins

Olympic organisers will begin a last-minute advertising blitz to fill more than two million empty seats, including more than 212,700 at gold medal sessions.

SOCOG will begin the final ticketing campaign in an attempt to raise up to $150 million for the budget and avoid the prospect of swathes of empty seats at venues.

The campaign comes in the same week that a SOCOG inventory revealed that less than six weeks before the opening ceremony tickets are available to more than 100 of the 142 gold medal sessions.

More than two months after SOCOG finished the last ticketing campaign there are unsold seats across all price categories including popular sports such as athletics, gymnastics, diving, triathlon and basketball.

Sydney has over nine million tickets for sale, more than for any previous Games. No Olympics has ever sold out. The bad news for Games organisers is good news for buyers.

Some of the more popular sports have not sold out any finals sessions, including diving, soccer, volleyball and water polo, along with less popular sports such as handball and judo.

More than 40,000 tickets are available for each of four athletics sessions in the 110,000-seat Olympic stadium - one session has 48,400 tickets available. hockey, has sold out six sessions, including the finals, yet 16 of 39 sessions still have more than 5,000 seats available in the 15,000-seat venue.

Professional Management Group