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RIO DE JANEIRO -- The taekwondo competition at the Rio Games on Thursday morning was sold out. Not a single seat was left for grabs at the 10,000-capacity arena, where fans spent between $21 and $43 to gain access.But the arena never totally filled.The crowds, or lack thereof, will unquestionably be part of the legacy of these first Olympics in South America, where some events were raucous and others seemed downright sleepy. Despite organizers insistence that most tickets were sold, it wasnt uncommon to see Usain Bolt running in a stadium that had perhaps more empty blue chairs than fans -- even after he took to Twitter with a video urging people to buy tickets.Make sure you buy tickets and come out and watch, Bolt said. Its going to be great.Bolt has more than 4 million Twitter followers. Most of them, apparently, werent listening.When U.S. 1,500-meter runner Jenny Simpson won bronze earlier this week, the track stadium was maybe 25 percent filled. She noticed but insisted it didnt take away from her moment.The physical crowd that is there never compares to the people that you took along the journey with you, and theyre watching through their television screens and certainly now the internet, Simpson said. So the physical presence doesnt excite or deter.Rio Games officials insist that more than 80 percent of all available tickets were sold and that their goals on that front will be met. But that stat hasnt passed the eye test throughout the Games, and an Associated Press review of the remaining 100 event sessions starting Thursday afternoon showed roughly half -- including the closing ceremony, the womens soccer gold-medal match and all remaining sessions in track and field -- had tickets remaining.I got tickets for wrestling because they were the lowest price, said Luiz Hernandez, a Colombian who was with friends inside Olympic Park this week. We got them to come in here and hang out. We wound up giving them away because we just wanted to be in here.Hernandez said he paid 160 Brazilian real for four wrestling tickets, or about $49. His girlfriend, he said, spent at least 10 times that much in the Olympic Megastore --which, without those tickets, their group would not have been able to access.In other words, they spent a little money so they could spend a lot of money. And they waited an hour in line just to get in the crammed store inside Olympic Park, where crowds have been sizable throughout the Games. (Throughout Brazil, there are more than 100 other stores, all smaller than the one in Olympic Park, selling Games souvenirs and open to the public.)Shes happy, Hernandez said.Theres been no shortage of theories -- or excuses, depending on perspective -- about the empty seats in Rio. Some events start too early; others start too late. Some tickets were too expensive. Too many sports seemed foreign to Brazilians. Blocks of seats ordinarily set aside for international fans either werent sold or claimed. Traffic scared away locals. Would-be visitors were scared away by pre-Olympic stories of disease, dirty water and crime.Theyre probably all valid factors, on some level.Combine that with how Rio organizers say 11 percent of the advance-purchased tickets -- and 55 percent of the tickets given out for free to needy kids in the Rio area -- werent used, and its easy to see how the crowds became an issue.I dont want to go too long into this because it might sound as an excuse, Rio Games spokesman Mario Andrada said. I believe we faced this issue without looking for excuses but rather looking for explanations.But Andrada said the Games broke the financial target for sales even while the attendance numbers lagged, something he attributed to high-priced tickets getting sold early to marquee events.Numbers mislead, Andrada said.The cheapest available ticket to track and field Thursday morning was about $31, the most expensive about $109 -- and for the night session, with Bolt set to try for a third straight gold in the 200-meter dash, the top price was nearly $300. For diving, the prices ranged from $75 on the low end for the morning session, $281 on the high end for the afternoon session. Plenty of those seats were available.But for volleyball, a sport wildly popular among Brazilians, tickets were gone even with a steep price. The best seats for the mens beach final Thursday night were all sold at $375 each.The mens gold-medal soccer match at Maracana had a top ticket value of around $300; that was also sold out, organizers said. But the closing ceremony might have empty seats -- the two cheapest levels of tickets ($62, $187) have all been sold, but the three most expensive tiers ($437, $655 and $936) all were available.Officials steadfastly insist empty seats wont hurt Rios legacy.We cannot regret something, Andrada said, that we cannot fix.Air Max 97 Undefeated Fake . The Canadian squad, skipped by Jennifer Jones of Winnipeg, got on the board first with two in the second end, and followed that with two more apiece in the fourth and sixth ends. Cheap Air Max 97 Mens . Aside from the trilogy main event title fight, there are a number of intriguing matchups in the heavyweight, welterweight and lightweight divisions. http://www.outletairmax97.com/air-max-97-silver-bullet-for-sale.html . - Derek Wolfe says hes finally healthy after suffering a seizure in November that doctors now believe was related to the spinal cord injury he suffered in the preseason. Air Max 97 Plus Black Orange . -- Team after team passed on Andre Ellington in the draft. Cheap Air Max 97 Wholesale . -- San Francisco 49ers linebacker Ahmad Brooks was fined $15,570 by the NFL on Wednesday for his hit on Saints quarterback Drew Brees last Sunday.NEW YORK -- Iverson Fleming scored 21 points including the game-winning jumper with 25 seconds to play and LIU Brooklyn beat St. Johns 74-73 on Sunday in the Brooklyn Hoops Winter Festival at Barclays Center.Jerome Frink had 20 points and 12 rebounds for the Blackbirds (7-3), who snapped a two-game losing streak. Nura Zanna had 13 points and 11 rebounds for the Blackbirds, whose only lead over the final 7 minutes was on Flemings jumper.St. Johns had chances at winning the game in the final seconds but the Red Storm turned it over twice and freshman Shamorie Ponds missed a foul line jumper at thhe buzzer.ddddddddddddPonds led the Red Storm (5-6) with 18 points while senior Darien Williams tripled his previous career high with 15. St. Johns had won three straight overall and five in a row in the series with LIU Brooklyn.Jashaun Agosto had 10 points for the Blackbirds. Bashir Ahmed added 14 points for St. Johns and Federico Mussini had 11.St. Johns was without leading scorer Marcus LoVett (18.8) who missed his third straight game with a sprained right ankle. ' ' '