Blog: Two tickets for Usain Bolt, please...

Blog: My financial life passed before my eyes. I'd failed to tick the box saying 'welcome to the cheap seats' and, suddenly, I was on the verge of commiting £1,500 of Barclays Bank's money to the London 2012 Olympics, writes Andy Richardson.

Happily, a last minute check of my Olympic ticket basket revealed my error and the price dropped down to a more palatable £100. The bank manager won't be hunting me down like a dog after all – at least, not yet.

Tickets for London's 2012 Olympics went on sale this morning and, amazingly, applications were an absolute doddle.

Forget the recent, well-publicised nightmares of fans seeking out V Festival tickets or passes for Take That gigs. The London 2012 ticket website worked like a well-oiled machine.

Identity? Check. Email address and password? Check. 'Welcome sir, two tickets to see Usain Bolt sprint along the Stratford track in world record time? Your application has been noted.'

Millions upon millions of people will apply for tickets to the 2012 Games. The event will be heavily over subscribed and at 7am this morning I was among the first people to make my application. Applicants will be entered into a ballot and, in Charlie and the Chocolate Factory style, only a few will get their hands on the tickets they'd most wanted.

I commited myself to a number of blue riband athletics events: Usain Bolt, Phillips Idowu, Jess Ennis, Mo Farah and others loomed large on my wish list. However, determined not to miss out, I also request tickets for an obscure event on a Saturday afternoon: if all else fails, I'll be able to enjoy the second round of the men's table tennis contest.

My tip for others making applications online? Check your running totals before you input your credit card details. Otherwise applications for tickets can run into the thousands of pounds.