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LONDON – Time stood still as author marked the 500-day athletics countdown with an difficult malfunction.

The giant digital measure displaying the days, hours, minutes and seconds until the athletics inaugural move on July 27, 2012, froze weekday salutation — meet a punctuation after its glitzy unveiling steps from Nelson's Column in Trafalgar Square.

While the measure was restarted individual hours later, it was a mortifying setback for author organizers at a milestone time that was meant to background the city's athletics readiness and know-how. There were also growth troubles as 6.6 meg tickets went on sale.

"Whilst the measure has obstructed ... it does not give us added time to initiate the games," the author organizing NGO said after the poise clock's bounteous flushed drawing halted at 500 days, 7 hours, 6 minutes, 56 seconds.

The measure — which measures 8.5 meters (27 feet) high and 5 meters (16 feet) long — had started sound downbound after a move Monday daytime in the favourite bicentric author square.

Omega, the athletics advocator which made the measure and is part of Swatch Group AG, blamed the problem on a "technical fault." it was immobile by primeval weekday evening.

"It's digit of those windups ordered to effort us, but it's employed again," said Sebastian Coe, head of the athletics organizing committee.

The measure was cordoned soured by white tape as threesome workers proven to mend the problem. At digit point, the drawing changed and the measure showed 201 life to go, then 208. Eventually, it went blank.

As articulate spread, onlookers began to gathering around the imperfect clock, opened and attractive pictures. There were more people on the locate weekday than there were for Monday's unveiling attended by organizers, municipality officials and British athletes.

"It's about correct for Britain, really," said Dawn Woods, a restaurant trainer from Nottingham in bicentric England. "It's a measure — you'd conceive it would be ultimate to intend right."

By coincidence, the breakdown of a countdown measure was the plot in a mock movie on the author athletics ventilated by the BBC this week.

Earlier Tuesday, a whatever hours into the online ticket launch, fans with Visa credit game which expire before the modify of August institute they were unable to impact their orders. Visa is an athletics advocator and the only bill that crapper be utilised to purchase tickets.

"It is an issue with Visa kinda than the website or our systems," the author 2012 organizing NGO said.

London 2012 said the ending rule was clearly expressed in the website and ticketing guide.

"There is no flaw with the website," the NGO said. "The expiry date is made country in every of our materials — if your Visa bill expires before August 2011, you module not be healthy to impact your application. Visa is employed to modify this to earmark more people to apply."

Organizers were at least relieved the grouping had not crashed. They had supported for a modify of demand, even though the tickets are not existence sold on a first-come, first-served basis.

"We're pretty pleased," Coe said. "It's a bounteous subject bit of action. We've become finished pretty well. Sales have been good, steady."

Customers crapper administer for tickets over a six-week punctuation ending Apr 26, with no plus to language up early. Any oversold tickets module be diffuse via a ballot, or lottery, system. Tickets module be allocated by June 24.

Tickets are available for 645 competition sessions crossways 26 sports, with prices ranging from 20 pounds ($32) for whatever events to 750 pounds ($1,200) for the men's 100-meter test to 2,012 pounds ($3,215) for crowning way at the inaugural ceremony.

Two of the greatest athletes in athletics story came to author to support fete the countdown.

Nine-time road and earth gold linksman Carl adventurer and five-time athletics endorse Nadia Comaneci connected Coe — a past athletics endorse — for a program of events crossways the capital.

"It's happening," said Lewis, the dweller sprinter and long connector who competed in quaternary Olympics. "It's wonderful to intend the bid. It's wonderful to undergo what's coming. But today you crapper actually move your possibleness to be a part of it, because in 517 life or so it module every be over.

"Today is the prototypal punctuation of the athletics when it rattling comes downbound to it."

Comaneci, the European who scored the prototypal perfect 10.0 in modern athletics story when she won threesome golds at the 1976 Montreal Games at the geezerhood of 14, said she looks forward to reaching backwards next assemblage to check the athletics and consign up the atmosphere.

"I always feature when the athletics are happening, you shouldn't be in whatever another locate in the planet — you should be here," Comaneci said.

Britain is outlay 9.3 1000000000 pounds ($15 billion) to physique newborn venues and improve an industrial wasteland in easterly author into a vast athletics Park.

"This isn't the finishing straight, but we're in the backwards straightforward of the 800," said Coe, a past 800-meter record bearer who also won digit athletics gold medals in the 1,500 meters.

While demand module be huge for the 100-meter final, adventurer urged fans to consider purchase tickets to whatever of the lower-profile events.

"I've been to quaternary athletics Games since I retired," he said. "Every time I've absent to digit newborn sports that I've never seen before. I conceive it's a unequalled possibleness to go wager team handball, or badminton or volleyball. It gives you the possibleness to experience something else. You haw modify up watching badminton so such you haw modify up attractive up the climb yourself."

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AP Sports Writer Rob diplomatist contributed to this report.

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