The first four ticket designs for the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics were unveiled today by the Vancouver Organizing Committee (VANOC). Media got a sneak peek at designs for tickets for the Opening Ceremony, hockey, cross-country skiing and curling as the Olympic mascots displayed them at the British Columbia Lottery Corporation's (BCLC) 2010 Winter Games Dome.

The colourful tickets reflect the graphic identity of the Games, with its palette of blues and greens found in the natural landscape of Vancouver and the Sea to Sky region, a look that will also be found on banners, venue signage and buildings during the Games. The tickets prominently display Vancouver 2010 pictograms, sport illustrations, and the venues.

More than a million tickets will be printed and used at the Games in eight months time; ticket buyers will receive them in late 2009 when they are delivered securely by Purolator Courier.

Fans can still buy Olympic tickets, including over one thousand highly-coveted gold medal hockey tickets, starting this Saturday, June 6 at 10:00 am (Pacific Time) on the VANOC website. Every sporting event, as well as the Opening, Closing and nightly Victory Ceremonies will be available on a first-come, first-served basis.

``They're all fine seats,'' ticketing vice-president Caley Denton said Thursday.

Originally organizer said more than 150,000 tickets would be on offer, but that figure increased to more than 200,000 after taking another look at venue seating plans. Denton said organizers hold back some tickets in case there turns out to be fewer seats than expected as the Games approach and venue plans are finalized.

Any more seats that become available will be sold during a third, smaller round of sales near the end of the year.

To protect ticket buyers, the souvenir-sized tickets are secured with bar codes to foil counterfeiters.

"We've worked hard to make these tickets as secure as possible to protect consumers, while at the same time making them attractive as they are often a treasured souvenir," explained Denton. "For example, with our bar code, when a spectator arrives at one of our venues and we scan their ticket, we can tell where that ticket came from, how it was purchased and if it's been invalidated because it's been reported stolen or lost. We'll also be able to spot counterfeit tickets and confiscate them."

Additionally, the organizers created entirely new illustrations for ceremonies tickets. For the Opening Ceremony image, a dark-haired female torchbearer approaches BC Place in downtown Vancouver in anticipation of the awe-inspiring lighting of the Olympic Cauldron, in front of a live crowd of 55,000 people and billions more watching around the world.

The remaining ticket designs will be released in the coming months.The first phase of ticket sales raised $94.7 million for the committee. Organizers are aiming to make up to another $50 million off ticket sales to the public.

In total, the organizing committee hopes to make $260 million off ticket sales, although much of that revenue will come from sales to sponsors, national Olympic committees and other partners.

Meanwhile, members of the International Olympic Committee wrapped up yet another visit to Vancouver on Thursday to check up on preparations for the Games.

With just eight months to go, Gilbert Felli, the IOC's executive director of Olympic Games, said Vancouver organizers had made progress in securing accommodations, particularly in Whistler, which has been a persistent concern.

Organizers have examined a worst-case scenario of busing workers and volunteers up from Vancouver to staff the alpine and Nordic events if they can't get all the accommodation they need.

Felli didn't offer specifics, but he said organizers have made significant progress during the past few months.

``On the accommodation, the concern is very low because VANOC did a great job of solving quite a few issues up in Whistler, so we're in a good track,'' Felli said in an interview.

Transportation has also been a major issue, and Felli said a few things still had to be worked out in that area. Notably, he said VANOC is still working to ensure there won't be problems quickly moving workers and spectators between venues, especially in downtown Vancouver.

(Files from the Canadian Press were used in this report)