Team GB stars SLAM 'ridiculous' Paris Olympics policy that requires athletes to pay full ticket prices for infants - with rules stating even newborn babies must have a paid seat

Team GB stars have hit out at the ‘ridiculous’ Paris 2024 policy of having to pay full price for tickets for their infants.

A number of Great Britain’s 327-strong squad are parents and their children will be in the French capital to watch them compete.

However, under Paris 2024 ticket rules, even newborn babies must have a paid seat, despite the fact they will not use it.

‘It is absolutely ridiculous,’ said British rower Mathilda Hodgkins-Bryne, whose two-year-old son Freddie has travelled to Paris. ‘Any human being, even if they are in a sling, they have to have a ticket.

‘I have never had to pay for rowing tickets for Freddie before given his age. We know that with the noise of the Games, he is literally going to come into my race and leave, but we have still got to pay for that.’

British track cyclist Dan Bigham, who has a one-year-old son Theo, said: ‘It seems so illogical that I have got to buy a ticket for a one-year-old.

‘Officially he takes a seat, even though he won’t be able to sit on it at a year old. It’s annoying. Is it worth £300? He won’t remember it. But it will be nice to have him there.’

Olympic athletes are only guaranteed two tickets to each session that they compete in, which they still must pay for.

Hodgkins-Byrne, 29, added: ‘By having to pay for little ones, who are not even going to sit there and enjoy it, it means people like our parents can’t go. It’s a bit of a shame. But I will be significantly less stressed and less upset if Freddie is there than if he wasn’t.’

The Paris Olympics policy states: ‘All spectators will need a valid ticket to access an Olympic venue, including children of all ages. The same rates will apply.’

The ticketing terms and conditions add that ‘access to the venues is not recommended for children below the age of four’.

The policy has caught out some spectators who bought tickets for the Olympics before they even had a baby.

London 2012 initially had the same rule on every infant requiring a ticket. But a backlash saw organisers perform a U-turn two months before the Games and they allowed babies aged 12 months to enter venues without a ticket.