Pin It

Guide for Buying Tickets to the Olympics

travoholic | Aug 25, 2009 |

0 Comments | Rating: 0

When the Olympic Games used to roll around every four years, I would watch on TV in awe and never imagined that I would one day make it to the event in person. It always seemed like the Games were a bit out of reach for the average Joe. I had it in my head that tickets were expensive and hard to come by but, as it turns out, neither is true.

So far I have been to the Olympics in Athens and Beijing and I have plans to attend the London 2012 Games as well. Here are a few tips on buying tickets to the Olympics based on those experiences.

Take Note of Ticket Sales Dates

Olympics tickets for both Athens and Beijing have gone on sale in various phases. The moment I decided I wanted to attend each of these Games, I headed to the official website and write down the dates for each of these ticket sales phases and posted little reminders to myself all over the place. Tickets go on sale about a year in advance and it is easy to flat out forget when the event seems so far away. The first phase of ticket sales is usually a window of several weeks so you have some leeway here. The later phases, though, are on a first-come, first-served basis and being at you computer on the right date at the right time is key to topping up your ticket request.

Prepare the First Phase of Your Ticket Application in Advance

With so many events, fixtures and stadiums scattered across a city, buying tickets to the Olympics can be a confusing experience. If you plan on attending more than one event per day, you will want to make sure you don't overlap your event choices. You will also need to make sure you have time to travel between the Olympic venues. It might sound like a good idea to go to a table tennis in the morning and softball in the afternoon but if the venues are hours apart and the events themselves last several hours, you might end up missing out on part or all of the competition.

I found the best way to organize my ticket request was to write it all down in a spreadsheet and then transfer things over to some sort of calender. The Athens Olympics website even had a planning calendar right there on their website which made things pretty easy. This was something the guys in Beijing didn't think to add and I had to take care not to overlap since some days I attended three events. Take note of event dates, start and end times, and especially venue location and transfer times between them.

Apply for More Tickets Than You Need

This is a risky one if you are on a budget. The first phase allows you to put in an application for the tickets you would most like to have and the oversubscribed events will conduct a random draw. This means that for the most popular events like swimming, and gymnastics you might not get tickets. If you apply for several popular events and are really unlucky, you could come away from the first ticket phase with no tickets at all. For example, at London 2012 track cycling will be a hugely popular event and if you have your heart set on seeing it, apply for a lot of tickets.

The problem is that if you apply for more tickets than you can afford and actually get them, you might be stuck financially. It's a tough balance to strike but, as a rule, I apply for more tickets in the first round than I can actually afford. I have learned that the chances of getting all of my requested tickets is slim. For example, in 2008 I applied for five swimming events and was only awarded tickets to one. Also, I didn't manage to get any gymnastics or track cycling despite putting in several event applications. I would rather apply for loads of tickets and have to pay more up front than I was expecting than not apply for many and end up with only a few crappy events.

Don't Be Afraid to Buy and Sell Tickets at the Venue At both the Athens and Beijing Games ticket sales outside of the venues has been very active (less so in Athens because the events weren't usually sold out). In Beijing, there were dozens and sometimes hundreds of people milling around outside each event with tickets in their hands, wheeling and dealing. On several occasions my friend and I had extra tickets and tried our hand at the scalping game with success. So if you end up with way more tickets than you had expected and need to recoup some of that money, you should be able to do it when you get to the Olympics, especially if you are selling at face value and especially for the most popular events.