I'm not connected at all! I just love attending the Games, and have since a friend invited me to LA when I was fresh out of college in '84. I've learned what I have only from reading and talking with other fans.
Almost all of my tickets have been purchased through the U.S. ATR, first Cartan, now Cosport. At least from a U.S. perspective, tickets have become more difficult to obtain. From Barcelona through Athens, maybe 80% of my initial ticket request was simply filled during the initial ballot. In almost every case, most of the remainder were filled in a second ballot.
Beginning with Beijing, though, the supply at least of standalone tickets available through the U.S. ATR became more scarce. I've supplemented by getting some tickets from friends in the EEA, an area about which Volshy knows a great deal, and in a couple of cases eBay (e.g., a hard to find Diving ticket in Beijing, bought from someone in Japan). The first Cosport ballot this year, though, was the very worst so far Like almost everyone else from whom we've heard, I got just a few tickets. Maybe this is due to higher demand, but I think US travelers were far more likely to want to attend in London than in Rio. Could be worldwide demand, or Brazilian demand. Could be the Organizing Committee or the ATR. Very hard to know.
Oh, and I believe in the Olympic spirit. It's what makes each Games so fantastic! But it doesn't guide the flesh and blood people who run the Games, except in a few cases (maybe Seb Coe?), and even then, only in a way that is unfortunately compromised by the demands surrounding the reality that this is a multi billion dollar business.