International Olympic Committee (IOC) President Jacques Rogge said Sunday in Athens that the IOC believes the upcoming Athens summer Olympic Games will be "very, very good" after hearing a presentation of the games' organizers.

"The IOC is extremely pleased by the preparations (for the games) and we are very glad to see that the promises made to us by the organizers have been kept," said Rogge at a brief press conference here Sunday afternoon following the conclusion of a 1.5-day meeting of the IOC Executive Board.

Praising the Athens Olympics Organizing Committee for the sense of urgency it has displayed in the final stage of the preparatory work, the IOC President said that IOC had always believed there was enough time to finish everything before the Games, and that the organizers in the Greek capital had done their work "to our great satisfaction".

The Athens Olympic Games is slated to open here on August 13.

Asked to comment on media reports that so far only 50 percent of the tickets for the Athens Games have been sold out, Rogge said that he had no latest figures about the ticket sales but he had been told by the local organizers that sales "are going up day by day and they are selling lots of tickets every day".

"I was told that there is a tradition in this country to buy tickets at the last moment and all venues will be full (when the games opens)," said the IOC President.

He also hinted that a large number of spectators could flock into Athens from all over Europe in the final run-up to the Games and when the Games are formally kicked off.

"Do not forget that Europe is a very small continent and it takes only two hours of flight to get to Athens from the west or the north of Europe," said Rogge. "It's not like in Australia, you have to spend a day in the plane to get to the other side."

Rogge, who on Sunday also heard a report from the Beijing Organizing Committee for the 2008 summer Olympics, also noted that he was very pleased by the report as the preparation for the 2008 Games is going on very well.

Source: Xinhua