Paris 2024 organisers expect to generate nearly €1.4 billion (£1.2 billion/$1.5 billion) in ticketing sales, including hospitality packages, equating to approximately one-third of the €4.4 billion (£3.9 billion/$4.7 billion) it hopes to make.

But the first phase of sales, which ended on Thursday (March 9), has drawn widespread criticism and a recent survey found that 82 per cent of French citizens felt that the ticket prices for Paris 2024 are too expensive.

Etienne Thobois, the Paris 2024 chief executive, insisted at a media briefing that the pricing levels were broadly in line with previous editions of the Olympics and Paralympics.

"In respect of the prices compared to other Games, if you look at Rio [2016] they are a bit more expensive, but we are cheaper than Tokyo [2020] when they were selling their tickets - unfortunately they were not able to welcome the public," Thobois said.

"Comparing to London, frankly, if you include the inflation as that was 12 years ago, it’s very comparable.

"Event by event you have differences.

"If you look at diving, for instance, where the British had high expectations for medals at London 2012, the pricing was very high.

"Here it is the same if you look at handball, where France holds the men’s and women’s titles, or fencing - our prices are higher.

"But all in all its very comparable from one Games to another, and actually London was a benchmark for us for the pricing of tickets."

Asked what measures are in place to prevent the illegal re-selling of tickets for exorbitant prices, Thobois responded: "Definitely the digital system prevents, or limits the risk of fraud.

"We should make sure that people go on the official platforms.

"Because the reality is they are facing very difficult wake-up calls.

"Because the reality is that we hold the QR codes until the end and the fact that you can only buy through official platforms, that’s the only way to ensure that you will have legit tickets for the Games.

"The official re-selling platform is the only place where you can be guaranteed that you are buying legit tickets for the Games.

"So illegal re-selling is definitely something we will try to control.

"There are no physical tickets, so it’s difficult to try and selling something from your phone to another phone, with a QR code that will be delivered only a few hours before the Games.

"It’s a strong choice we’ve made to go digital, which makes it very complicated if you want to sell at the last minute."