Rio de Janeiro: Australian decathlete Cedric Dubler has said what everyone's been thinking: the crowds at these Olympics are "a little bit of a let down".
Dubler, 21, ended the first day of the two-day decathlon in 12th place, with the Olympic debutant's performance slightly down on his best.
Speaking after the last of Wednesday's events, Dubler said the experience of competing at the Games was not as he had anticipated.
"It was interesting. It was a little bit different to what I expected. And it took a while to get going. The first few events were just off where I wanted," Dubler said.
"The atmosphere wasn't quite what I expected it to be. It feels like an empty stadium.
"Obviously there are a lot of people out there, but compared to other competitions I've seen where London has a full crowd of 110,000 people and we have an empty 55,000 seat stadium, it's not what I expected it to be.
"I wasn't overcome by any of the noise or any of the atmosphere which I was almost expecting. So in a way it was good, but in a way it was a little bit of a let down."
Dubler isn't the first athlete at these Games to make note of the small crowds.
"Just look at the stands and you feel like you aren't at the Olympics," British 1500m runner Chris O'Hare said after competing earlier in the meeting.
Rio 2016 organisers say 87 per cent of tickets have been sold for the Games, but the Estadio Olimpico has rarely looked anywhere near that full.
Asked on Wednesday by Fairfax Media for crowd figures, a Rio 2016 spokesperson gave only ticket sale numbers.
In any case, Dubler - Australia's first Olympic decathlete in 16 years - said he knew coming into the event that he wasn't in peak condition.
"I think my body over the last few weeks has been telling me we're getting to the end of the season. It's sort of been saying 'slow down a little bit' and I've just tried to bargain with it for a few weeks.
"The preparation over the last few weeks hasn't been ideal. It's still been good but it hasn't been ideal.
"I believe I'm a little bit down. Four of the events are lower than my nationals scores, so little bit down but that's all right, it's all experience."
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