Over 2.5 million people have signed up for tickets to the London 2012 Olympic Games which go on sale on Tuesday, March 15.

London 2012 chairman Lord Coe is sticking by his description that it will be a marathon not a sprint as the six week window - to April 26 - to try and buy one of 6.6 million tickets begins.

Lord Coe describes it as the "daddy of all ticketing strategies" but there is a potential risk of a technological meltdown.

He said: "We have got some great partnerships out there. London 2012 is working with technical teams and in the technology suites on the tickets.

"We have 2.5 million people saying they want tickets and right across the process this is where we want to be - for people to buy tickets and get them in to the system - but there is no hurry. You have no greater chance of getting a ticket on March 15 than say 22 days in to the process.

"We have got every confidence that everybody who wants to come will get a chance."

There are 650 sessions across 26 sports and 17 days to choose from and people will be limited to a maximum of 20 events each. The most popular events, including the men's 100 metres final, will have a limit of four tickets per person.

It is not first-come-first served and ballots will be used for oversubscribed events. Ticket prices will range from �20 to �2,012.

People should only apply for what they can afford because a successful bid for tickets means they have to pay for them, just as they would with an online auction site. Applicants will find out whether or not they have secured tickets by June 24 when Visa, the only valid credit card as an Olympic sponsor, will debit the cost of tickets.

Meanwhile, detectives have made 49 arrests in a ticket touts crackdown launched ahead of the Games. Arrests have been made for a range of crimes including fraud, money-laundering and handling stolen goods since Scotland Yard's Operation Podium squad was set up in June.