As of Dec. 10, the second round of Olympic tickets will go on sale, using a lottery system that is similar to the first round, Beijing Olympic Games Committee Organizers announced today. There are about 1.8 million tickets total, but the number still available is unclear because payment was due today from the winners of the first round of tickets.
People can apply online for tickets at www.tickets.beijing2008.cn. Tickets for the disabled and those who accompany them will go on sale next year during a third round.
The second round had initially begun on Oct. 30. That process was on a first-come, first-serve basis and had created chaos, clogging phone lines and resulting in huge in-person lines, according to English-language newspaper China Daily. The system also was criticized as unfair.
The high demand for Olympic tickets reflects the huge amount of pride that the Chinese people have about hosting the 2008 Olympics. Many have said that the games will serve as an international coming out party for the Asian country.
I think the new lottery system for the second round will quell displeasure among those seeking tickets. The games are going to be hugely popular in China, so the bigger question is how the country will deal with all of those people once they actually attend the games. It remains to be seen whether infrastructure/transportation revamps will be effective and whether the poor English-speaking abilities of many Chinese working with the games will serve as a hindrance.
But for now, this is the exciting part, where the Chinese can take pride in hosting an exciting international event.
3 Comments
December 1, 2007 at 4:10 am
How will the lottery system work? Will it just be people selected at random from those who apply?
I can’t wait to see how the Beijing Olympics will look.
December 4, 2007 at 1:05 am
I went to the Summer Olympics in ‘96 when Atlanta hosted and I was absolutely shocked to see how many empty seats there were at the events I attended. While I understood not many people were too interested in seeing an early, preliminary men’s soccer match, it was utterly incredible that there were empty rows surrounding my 7th row seat at the women’s gymnastics final. If you remember, this was THE event of the entire games after Keri Strug hurt her leg and pushed the U.S. Team to win Gold. At least China won’t have the problem of weak crowds for their events!
December 7, 2007 at 3:19 am
This entry only leaves me with more questions. How will the lottery work? Are tickets for each event separate, or is there one global pass? What do you think would be the most efficient way to do the distribution? And most importantly: don’t the Chinese know that a bracelet/magic-number system would be far superior?