Organisers of the 2012 London Olympics have received more than one million ticket requests for the men’s 100-metre final.

The demand to watch the coveted event on 5 August next year has been so great that the 80,000-seat Olympic Stadium could be filled at least 20 times over.

Around half the seats in the arena have been made available to the public, with the other 40,000 set aside for sponsors, VIPs and the media.

The opening ceremony has also been “massively oversubscribed” according to organisers.

In a six-week online sales window, 1.8 million applicants made 20 million requests for tickets, which are being allocated through a lottery system. Unsold tickets will be put on sale again.