London 2012 Olympic tickets on sale 15 March

Tickets for the London 2012 Olympic Games will go on sale on 15 March, organisers have announced.

Sports fans will have six weeks to decide which event they want to attend before making a final submission.

There are 6.6m tickets available and applications will close on 26 April, with all oversubscribed sessions being allocated via a ballot.

Tickets for the Paralymic Games will go on sale on 9 September, with prices announced in May.

Champion swimmer and five-times Olympian Mark Foster made the announcement on the National Lottery programme on BBC One.

'Greatest show'

Spectators can make applications at any point during the six-week period as it will not be a first come, first served process, the committee said.

Full details of the purchasing process and the finalised schedule for all 650 sport sessions will be announced in February.

London 2012 chairman Lord Coe said: "On 15 March, the application process opens to be part of the greatest show on earth.

"This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to see the world's greatest athletes going for gold in the UK - a chance for people to see their favourite sport and perhaps try a new one," he said.

Tickets are available at a wide range of prices starting at £20.

Special prices are also available for young people and seniors across all Olympic sports.

The two million people already signed up to the <link> <caption>London 2012 ticketing database</caption> <url href="http://www.tickets.london2012.com/" platform="highweb"/> </link> will receive information about how to apply, with registered users being able to use their existing log-in details.

Further details of the application process for Paralympic tickets will be announced later in the year, with prices announced in May.

Tickets for the London 2012 Festival events will go on sale in the autumn.