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| London 2012 organisers have recieved 20 million ticket applications |
As the applications for London 2012 tickets close up shop tonight, BBC News reported today that the number of applicants over the bank holiday weekend has ‘Hit the roof.’ I’m beginning to think that my chances of getting a ticket to the men’s 100m final are about as likely as Phillips Idowu getting through an airport scanner without the alarm going off.
Surely It’s not much too ask in wanting to see the pinnacle of Olympic sport, live and uncensored, at the only games that will be held on British soil in my lifetime, is it? A simple request, one would think, had 10 million other Brits not stolen my idea first. And with tickets for the most oversubscribed events decided by a random ballot, the odds of success have suddenly become rather slim. For the 17 action packed days, over 6.5 million tickets are available to the public; London 2012 chief executive Paul Deighton told the BBC that the numbers of people applying in the last week has been three of four times that of the previous month. With the current pattern as it is, Mr Deighton believes that the ‘Sky’s the limit’. Great for the sport, however not so great for my fast fading hopes of getting a seat next July.
Then of course there’s the small and somewhat overlooked matter of the payment. With a maximum of 20 ticket applications per person, any tickets you are allocated must be paid for in full. With this being the case, and in the unlikely event that all of my applications are accepted, the bill is going to be so whopping that I’ll have to pawn my dear Mum’s wedding ring, and sell the dog back to those people with the double barreled surname whom we brought him from at the Kennel Club. Of course, for those looking for an alternative avenue in getting a piece of the action, there are other options.
There is the volunteer route, but unfortunately applications have been and gone, so unless you’ve applied already then I’m afraid you’ve missed the boat. So how on earth then are we supposed to experience this marvellous spectacle of the Olympic age?
In 2008, all of the major cities in the UK including Manchester, Plymouth, Bristol, Cardiff and Middlesbrough had big screens installed to ensure sports enthusiasts do not miss a moment of the Games. Great idea, although I’m not convinced I’ll be spending 17 days watching Jessica Ennis from the middle of a Westfield.
Then there's the third option; enter the wonders of modern technology, and 3D TV. The Loughborough University sports bar has just been equipped with a 50 inch, state of the art 3D screen with images so crisp, you can see just how little contact there was with Didier Drogba’s back leg before he hit the deck like one of Mark Wahlberg’s victims in Shooter. With image quality heralded as ‘So good it could almost be live’, the only drawback with 3D TV is that no one in their right mind would wear those ridiculous glasses outside of the home. In saying that, Bruce Willis was photographed in 2008 wearing UGG boots, so I suppose anything is possible.
Of these minor foibles, it must be said that the image quality is astounding, and there is certainly a backbone to the claim that the experience is almost live. However, almost live, isn’t live, and that’s the whole point. I've never thought to myself 'I haven’t been to Rio yet, I’ll set the screensaver on my laptop to ‘Christ the Redeemer 3D’ and gaze away the hours until I’m satisfied that I was ‘almost there’. If I was so inclined (and wealthier) I'd book a flight, get on the plane, and go to Rio. And with 3DTV’s starting at £600, if you can afford one of those, you may as well apply for tickets.
Don’t get me wrong, who wouldn’t want to see every strand of Usain’s untied laces as he zooms across the line at the national speed limit, or the rattling of the hurdles as David Oliver gallops ever closer to Dayron Robles’ already impossible world record. But however eye popping these details, and whatever ‘5.1 to the power of 4’ surround sound Bang and Olufsen have wired into our earlobes by next July, it will never be the same as actually being there.
Case in point, and being the lucky owner of a ticket to the Crystal Palace Grand Prix last Summer, I sat yards from the starting blocks of Bolt’s closest rival, American record holder Tyson Gay, as he powered his way to a seasons best of 9.78 seconds. The experience was jaw dropping. On the word ‘set’, you could hear a pin drop from the other side of the stadium; an eerie still in the floodlit arena and an air of expectation from the 15,000 strong crowd, as they awaited a man who would be the world record holder, had the gangly Jamaican not got there first. On the crack of the gun, the athletes exploded into action and the crowd erupted in a wave of sound comparable only to a goal at a premier league football match. Gay was moving, and moving fast. By the time the smoke from the starting pistol had settled, he was already half way round his victory lap, celebrating the fastest run of 2010, to a standing ovation.
Of course, with the speed that Bolt is predicted to run at the games, pushed all the way by his seriously in form American rival, seat holders could well be paying over £100 per second of action for the men’s 100m final. But no-one complained when they had to fork out upwards of £700 to watch David Haye tickle Audley Harrisson to the floor in November; a fight which may as well have lasted 10 seconds, had Haye decided not to river-dance around the former Olympic champion for the first 2 rounds.
And so what if you have to re-mortgage your parent’s house to pay for a ticket, they can stay in the kennels for the summer; your dog's not there remember, you sold him. This will happen once, and only once in your lifetime. So get online (you already are, you’re reading this) and apply for tickets. Prices start at £20 and, and if you’re lucky enough to be in the higher echelons of society (or a lottery winner) then the top ticket for the opening ceremony is comically priced at £2,012, so go for it. Applications close at midnight tonight, or probably 12 minutes past 12. Nice to know the organisers have a sense of humour then.
Here's the website, good luck!
