Showing posts with label Copper Box. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Copper Box. Show all posts
Wednesday, August 1, 2012
Today's (EXTRA) Event - Wednesday, August 1, 2012
Turns out a lot of Londoners (and English in general) applied for Olympic tickets but didn't get any. Whenever we talk to any of these folks about the number of tickets we have, they either get very depressed or angry (not at us, yet).
The only opportunity for most English to see the Olympics is to watch it on TV. To add insult to injury, when they are watching events on TV, they are noticing empty seats in every venue (even in gymnastics and swimming which are the most popular events and are held in smaller venues with fewer seats). Many of these seats have been held open for athletes, VIPs and sponsors. (This article goes into a bit more detail on the subject.) Some of these seats are finally being made available to the public.
In addition to making more tickets available, tickets for seats left vacant after the original ticket holder has left an event are now being re-sold for 5 British pounds (significantly less than the original ticket price). Most of the events have at least two games/matches. Many of the fans only come to watch their country compete. After that, they leave. This leaves many seats open during the following event(s)/match(es). Rather than leaving those seats empty, they are now being resold. (Apparently they have been doing this at Wimbledon the past few years.)
This process is made possible by the bar codes on the tickets. You have to stand in a line (or a "queue" as the English would say) and it takes a little while for the whole process to work and you may not get to see the entire following event, but for 5 pounds, who can complain?
I was able to use this process to see the second half of the second game of a handball session this evening and I think it worth every pence I paid for it.
Team Handball - Copper Box/Olympic Park
Women's Preliminaries - Group A
Croatia vs. Russia
Here's the link for the official Olympic handball page.
The only opportunity for most English to see the Olympics is to watch it on TV. To add insult to injury, when they are watching events on TV, they are noticing empty seats in every venue (even in gymnastics and swimming which are the most popular events and are held in smaller venues with fewer seats). Many of these seats have been held open for athletes, VIPs and sponsors. (This article goes into a bit more detail on the subject.) Some of these seats are finally being made available to the public.
In addition to making more tickets available, tickets for seats left vacant after the original ticket holder has left an event are now being re-sold for 5 British pounds (significantly less than the original ticket price). Most of the events have at least two games/matches. Many of the fans only come to watch their country compete. After that, they leave. This leaves many seats open during the following event(s)/match(es). Rather than leaving those seats empty, they are now being resold. (Apparently they have been doing this at Wimbledon the past few years.)
This process is made possible by the bar codes on the tickets. You have to stand in a line (or a "queue" as the English would say) and it takes a little while for the whole process to work and you may not get to see the entire following event, but for 5 pounds, who can complain?
I was able to use this process to see the second half of the second game of a handball session this evening and I think it worth every pence I paid for it.
Team Handball - Copper Box/Olympic Park
Women's Preliminaries - Group A
Croatia vs. Russia
Here's the link for the official Olympic handball page.
Saturday, July 28, 2012
Today's Events - Saturday, July 28, 2012
Women's Team Handball - Copper Box/Olympic Park 2:30 PM (8:30 AM Central)
Preliminaries - Group A
Game 1 - Croatia vs. Brazil
Game 2 - Denmark vs. Sweden
Team handball is not a sport most Americans are familiar with. It's a sport played primarily in Europe. Handball was developed in Denmark, Sweden and Germany in the late 19th century. The sport first appeared at the Olympic Games in 1936 in Berlin. The teams favored for the gold medal are Denmark, Norway, South Korea and Russia.
For lack of a better description, team handball is a combination of basketball, soccer and water polo. If you'd like to get a better idea of what it's all about, you can check out the video below. Also, here's the link to the official Olympic team handball page.
Women's Volleyball - Earls Court/West London 8:00 PM (2:00 PM Central)
Preliminary - Pool B
Game 1 - USA vs. Korea
Game 2 - Croatia vs. Brazil
Like basketball, volleyball was invented in the United States. Volleyball made its Olympic debut at the Tokyo 1964 Games. The gold medal favorites are Japan, China, Cuba and Brazil. Here's the link to the official Olympic volleyball page.
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