Speaking at a media briefing marking 500 days to go until the Games open on July 26, Estanguet added that the phase was being closed today, six days earlier than envisaged.

He added that the next phase, which will involve one and a half million single tickets in all sports, as well as the Opening and Closing Ceremonies, will start on March 15.

The opening phase of sales has seen widespread criticism for the Paris 2024 organisers, with one French poll finding that 82 per cent of those surveyed felt tickets were too expensive.

Earlier this month Belgium’s double Olympic heptathlon champion Nafissatou Thiam said that she feared her family would not be able to attend the Games to watch her seek a third title because of the prices.

Asked how many tickets would be available at the lowest price of €24 (£21/$25) in second phase, and whether this might stem the criticism so far received, Estanguet responded: "It won’t be easy to satisfy all the expectations because what we learned from the first phase is that the popular demand of being part of Paris 2024.

"It’s been a successful first phase, even if we understand the criticism, and the frustration, of people who were not satisfied."

"In the second phase we will aim to sell 1.5 million tickets, and we intend to have roughly 10 per cent of tickets at 24 euros.

"It won’t probably last long because again it won’t satisfy the number of people who would like to have tickets at that price.

"But again it is a question of balance.

"It’s important for us to have good access with tickets at €24 euros but also exceptional tickets, because mainly the second phase will be the moment where you will have access to the most exceptional moments of Paris 2024, such as the Opening Ceremony, athletics and swimming with prices very high.

"Even so if you are looking at the benchmark of past editions of the Games we are roughly at the same numbers.

"But it’s important to accept that those range of tickets allow the revenue that will be invested in the ambition of Paris 2024.

"The budget of Paris 2024 is balanced because of this range of price.

"Overall there are ten per cent of tickets at €24 euros, there are also ten per cent at more than €200 (£177/$211), and in the middle a total of around four million tickets at €50 (£44/$52) and less.

"So I’m not sure it will satisfy completely the expectations of people because again there will be more people in demand, but we believe it is a good balance in the ticketing programme."

Estanguet described the initial sales response as "very, very promising for Paris 2024," adding: "We had the objective of selling one third of our tickets and we announced the objective of selling three million in the first phase, and we sold a total which is the largest number of tickets ever sold in France.

"So we have made history already, and we are just at the beginning because we are still at 500 days to go, but we are very satisfied with the amount of people who connected to the platform and bought tickets.

"Tickets were sold in 158 countries, and two third of those sales were in France.

"And what is also important for us is that 44 per cent of the purchasers were under 35.

"After France we can see that the UK and United States were very dynamic on the platform, and also Germany and The Netherlands came after.

"In terms of price, among the 3.25 million tickets sold a little bit more than 10 per cent were sold at €24, which means 400,000 tickets.

"The big majority was at 70 per cent, at less than €100 (£88/$105), and less than five per cent of the tickets sold in the first phase were more than €200.

"We sold tickets in all the 600 sessions on offer.

"Football comes first in the list, mainly because of the capacity of different stadiums.

"But we also found climbing and BMX were sold out on the first day."

Speaking about the opportunities for the second phase, Estanguet added: "For the finals of breaking, skateboarding and BMX you will find tickets for €50 (£44/$52).

"For the finals of the basketball, you have, OK, very expensive tickets for the best places in the stadium, but also you can attend the finals, which is a very demanding session, at €95 (£84/$100).

"It is important for us always to find this balance in the price.

"In athletics we will have three sessions with a top price of €980 (£869/$1,000), and it will also be possible to attend these very special nights of athletics in the Stade de France from €125 (£110/$132).

On the subject of the Opening and Closing Ceremonies, which for the first time will not be held in a stadium but on a six kilometres stretch of the River Seine, Estanguet added: "Tickets will be from zero euros to €2,700 (£2,395/$2,855.

"Hundreds of thousands of people will be able to apply for free tickets to this historic moment, but there will be also exceptional tickets for this moment."

A total of 70,000 tickets will be on sale for the Opening Ceremony.

The exact figure of those who will be able to access free tickets, and the method that will be used, has yet to be announced.

As in the first phase, the second phase will involve a period where people can register for the draw to buy tickets - from March 15 until April 20 - and, if successful, access the site for 48 hours from a starting date of May 11 with a guarantee that they will receive the tickets they pay for.

A maximum of six single tickets will be on sale per session, although that limit will be reduced to four for high-demand sessions.