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BOCOG did not publish an official ticket user and spectator guide in any other language but Chinese.

My contacts told me that BOCOG have really made so many people angry about this, and they are refering people to the spectator section of the BOCOG website to get information. Again another stuff up and care factor = ZERO!

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BOCOG did not publish an official ticket user and spectator guide in any other language but Chinese.

My contacts told me that BOCOG have really made so many people angry about this, and they are refering people to the spectator section of the BOCOG website to get information. Again another stuff up and care factor = ZERO!

That's why ATP said that to me I now see.

Strange, does the IOC not have rules about this publication? Most publications have to be published in French, English and host country language.

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That's why ATP said that to me I now see.

Strange, does the IOC not have rules about this publication? Most publications have to be published in French, English and host country language.

Why do you NEED all these maps way ahead of time? R u going to live there? What a complete waste of paper, ink and postage if they had to issue a complete set of venues for someone who's only purchased 1 or 2 events! Obviosuly, there will be ushers at all the venues to guide ticket-holders to their seats. Why do you need it weeks in advance?

If you had enough common sense to secure tickets online and navigate the maze of all the ticketing delays, visa requirements, etc., I think you would have enough common sense to get to your seat -- especially with the help of ushers who will be trained to guide 'gaijin' to their seats. :blink:

Edited by baron-pierreIV
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The Spectator Guide does have useful information in it on the special Olympic bus routes, stops, venue access locations and security checkpoints, and all manner of goodies. I think it's less about the venues themselves, but about what happens getting to them and between them. However, I don't think any of it is really essential to know everything before you show up in Beijing. The one thing that could be helpful is if you are trying to interweave general sightseeing in Beijing around attendance at Event Sessions, and have a general overall plan for your overall time. Particularly if you have never been to Beijing before. However, I'm not sure the Spectator Guide is the most useful tool for figuring this out...probably better to come up with a Best Guess plan and then ask a Beijing resident. :)

And I agree, it is unbelievably poor form to not have at least an English language version in print, it's just not that hard or expensive to do. Under normal circumstances I would say this is just typical Chinese thoughtlessness or screwup. However, in the context of the various fiascos, some of them BOCOG-originated and some of them (like the visa regulation debacle) courtesy of the Chinese gov't, it seems to be yet another in-your-face "Foreigner Go Home/Foreigner Stay Away" message delivered by the lot of them.

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...snip...

If you had enough common sense to secure tickets online and navigate the maze of all the ticketing delays, visa requirements, etc., I think you would have enough common sense to get to your seat -- especially with the help of ushers who will be trained to guide 'gaijin' to their seats. :blink:

Uh..wrong country..."laowai" would probably be the best term for Beijing. But keep "gaijin" handy, as it will be useful for you to use in 2016 in Tokyo. :P

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Uh..wrong country..."laowai" would probably be the best term for Beijing. But keep "gaijin" handy, as it will be useful for you to use in 2016 in Tokyo. :P

I know 'gaijin' is the Japanese term, but I don't know the CHinese equivalent. Anyway, I'm not going, and same part of the world... ;)

Do you think they'll do an homage to the Boxer rebellion in the OC? :lol:

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BOCOG did not publish an official ticket user and spectator guide in any other language but Chinese.

My contacts told me that BOCOG have really made so many people angry about this, and they are refering people to the spectator section of the BOCOG website to get information. Again another stuff up and care factor = ZERO!

I have to admit that I always thought that you were tough and sometimes a little unfair to BOCOG.

But I now admit that BOCOG ticketing handling is a spectacular failure on many accounts.

Most surprisingly, I can't believe the IOC had so little control over the whole ticketing process (which is sanctioned by the IOC).

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I have to admit that I always thought that you were tough and sometimes a little unfair to BOCOG.

But I now admit that BOCOG ticketing handling is a spectacular failure on many accounts.

Most surprisingly, I can't believe the IOC had so little control over the whole ticketing process (which is sanctioned by the IOC).

Every one of NOC's posts that I have seen has hit the BOCOG nail on the head. Of course, those of you who know China will know that if there is a way to turn anything into a giant clusterf**k, the Chinese will manage to find it. Why they make things so hard on themselves and everybody else is beyond comprehension. (This isn't limited to the Olympic preparations, by the way.) A lot of it has to do with a certain amount of nationalistic arrogance and the belief that if they put any foreigners with experience in policy-making positions, they will somehow lose face by admitting they don't really know what they're doing. Ditto for even taking the advice of foreigners. Also, Chinese culture at all levels is not proactive, people and organizations just basically react to events. Sort of like falling into the potholes and then trying to figure out how to get out of the situation, rather than looking ahead and steering around the potholes to begin with.

I'm waiting for more people, especially the intl press, to start catching on and asking where all the "missing" tickets are--the ones that were supposed to go for public sale and didn't quite make it there. From what I've been able to ferret out, it's a significant number, and hard for me to believe that they will all magically appear at the venue box office windows for last-minute sales.

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