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I really apprecaite everyone's input and information on this.

Sounds like I'm too late for the German ATR if what's gone is gone and they've been open for a while.

I know someone who knows a Brazil resident-so I was thinking of trying for the resident live sales when they option in October (not the non-resident as that may be too close to the games to make travel arrangements). Again, I'd have to rely on someone I know into getting someone I don't know to facilitate the sale. Iffy.

Yes, it is about the big finals for me. So that's sounding nearly impossible unless I'm lucky or wealthy. I am neither so far! I'm interested in AA, Team Finals or Beam/Bars EF for Women's Artistic. Yeah-the big ones. GA009, 011, 012 or 013. I have been to a World Gymnastics Championships before and it was cool, but you know-The Olympics is the biggest show of them all and I'd love to see the action there.

It's an expensive trip. I went back and forth about whether or not I'd be okay seeing other sports only and not Gymnastics and my decision was no, so I put all my eggs in the Gymnastics basket during the reservation phases. It certainly would be a lot easier if I was willing to just go and see other sports. I could hopefully get something and then try to score gymnastics when I got there. This is my first go round on even trying for Olympic tickets. I had no clue how hard or easy it was. Now that I know what I want to see is in fact extremely difficult to get I may have to adjust my expectations and re think if I'm interested in making the trip for any other sports at this or any future Summer Olympics. I am seeing that flexibility is a key factor to making it work out.

Memonade-I totally appreciate even the mention of the possibility of a trade. I'd have to see if could adjust my hotel reservation and of course I'd have to get my hands on tickets to trade. Again, I understand that was just a mention. In my naivete I only made the hotel reservation to accomodate 3 finals days. Additionally, I had to pay for it in advance so I could only pick so many days and it was basically a crap shoot as I was going in blind so that I could get my hands on some accomodations.

I'm not totally ready to give up yet, but my expectations have been adjusted. I realize and have to accept that if I am not willing to be flexible there is a good chance I won't be going.

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Cece,

It's certainly possible, as I got a lot of the primo events at London fairly down to the wire, but I booked my trip knowing that I'dve had a good time if all I saw was preliminary beach volleyball. For obvious reasons, 9 and 11 will be a longshot, but I think 12 and 13 would be doable if you stay vigilant. This is especially true if you're well heeled enough to afford any of the price categories.

To be honest, I haven't even heard of many people getting any of the good stuff. I haven't heard any reports of people getting many swim finals, track cycling, gymnastics finals, etc, so there certainly could be another session of releases which make people happy. I just wanted to be realistic with you that the odds of the really big finals are stacked against you, in case that that was your sole reason for going before you invested any more money into it.

Another thing to think about, is that if you go, your chances improve if you're willing to go to the event solo and leave your husband behind. A lot of times someone will have an extra ticket because one of their party got sick or can't go.

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The secret and trick is...go to enjoy the WHOLE atmosphere. And yes, I think the travel and lodging arrangements take priority. But be open and a little flexible in which events you want to see. Cece, if you're dead set going on a certain night, then that really cuts down your chances.

But at the same time, there will be people unloading tickets at the site or AROUND the site...or if you're staying at a reputable hotel, I am sure the concierges of the major hotels will have formed some sort network to secure more tickets for their guests. You may have to tip the concierges a bit if they get your the tix you want.

If there's a will; there's a way...but DON'T set your hearts on one particular night.

Also -- and maybe only the on-the-ground situation will tell; but perhaps the IOC and the COJO will NOW sell no-show sponsor tickets last minute at the box-office? Watch out for rules like this if after 1/2 hour that the event has started and the sponsor seats are empty, they may open up the box-office for that. Or at least, get on some sort of waiting list. But only an insider can tell if this will be implemented or not in 2016.

Edited by baron-pierreIV
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I just remembered another option. At Atlanta in 1996, I forget at which mall I was having lunch at...but I saw one of the setters of the USA Men's volleyball team counting and checking off against a list like a WHOLE load of tickets. So, another suggestion is to befriend someone of influence on the team you want to follow. More likely than not, they will have amassed a whole bloc of tickets. Now whether those are for the nights you want -- as in Cece's case, a particular night, I couldn't tell.

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Hi Cece,

You can visit Brazil site - http://tinyurl.com/o3g46y8 and click on events you want to see. Then click on i tab on the right hand side. It will show you which tics are available and which are full. If your friend in Brazil had regietered for an account (Maybe they might be going), you can request them to apply for you on second draw which begins on 1st July. You should try, might get lucky as 70% tickets are reserved for Brazilians, so chances are high. If they have not registered, then you can try in live sales in October.

If you can, get your friend's details in Germany. Then you can try all the live sales of EU ATR's, somewhere you may get lucky. The next sale is on Monday for Dutch ATR. EU residents can buy tics from any EU country.

May I ask, which hotel you booked and where? I have been searching for months to get a hotel, but no luck.

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Cece, I'm going to have to respectfully disagree with the advice that has been dispensed in the last few posts. My professional job is within the trading world, and I'm a ridiculous sports fan and go to pretty much all of the major events, so I have a good grasp on how tickets are traded and valued. I'm mainly putting this out there so that people have a more realistic view of some of the things mentioned here.

1) Hotel concierge: The hotel concierge can sometimes get tickets, but they'll be at the same price as from a ticket agency (really marked up), plus a service fee. The busboy isn't helping you out of the goodness of his heart, and he also doesn't have a magical ticket source for super high demand tickets.

2) Scalpers by the venue: These will be really marked up, and there's a chance you'll be buying counterfeit tickets. Things like the gymnastics finals are where the counterfeiters come out to play. Having gone to the World Cup, the Brazilian police at least make a nominal attempt to stop touts, so you won't find scalpers where you'll find police to keep things safe. For the World Cup final, they wouldn't even let you off at the Maracana stop unless you had a ticket. Also, mugging is rampant in Rio, so if people see you talking to scalpers by a big event, it'll be assumed you have a lot of money, and scalpers operate far from police presence. Bad situation in general. Your best option is to go to the venue and hold up a finger and hope someone has an extra, but the cops might not let you hang out in front of a high profile event.

3) Brazilian draw: Kavita says that "chances are high" if you enter the Brazilian draw. Your chances are marginally better, but the top tickets within the Brazilian draw still had 150-250 applications per available ticket (less than 1% chance). If you look at the anecdotal evidence from our Brazilian friends, most of them did worse than Americans did with CoSport. Corruption within Brazil is at a level where I'd assume the top tickets are funneled to fat cats.

4) Befriend someone on the team: Now Baron is taking a trip into fantasy land. You think that gymnasts don't have enough parasitic hangers on? So for the US Olympic team, each athlete is allotted a whopping TWO tickets per event they're competing in. This leads to a huge source of ticket demand, because while their parents might be covered, they've got siblings, other family, friends, etc trying to watch too. Athletes in the high demand events like Swimming and Gymnastics are in the desperately seeking mode, not the, "I've got extra tickets to give to random people on the internet" mode. He might as well have suggested that you try to qualify for the Olympic team, or finish med school by May to get a doctor's credential.

5) The theory that they'd resell no show tickets: This is again Baron living in fantasy land. In order for this to be remotely legal, it would've needed to be included in the terms and conditions upon selling tickets. For me personally, I see multiple events per day, so there are times when there is some overlap, so I arrive late to the second event. What I did see in London was that for some longer sessioned events, there were people at the door who would "check out" a ticket, which allowed someone to go in and occupy the vacated seat. I saw this in Wimbledon last time, and was told that all proceeds go to charity. That being said, pretty much no one is going to walk away from a two hour gymnastics session.

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re. No shows - I believe this is referring to the practice of allocating tickets to sponsors and Olympic family. Those tickets are often passed on for free so often go unused. At both London and Beijing there were frequently large blocks of empty seats in these areas. These are the tickets that can occassionally get onto the black market too. This issue comes up at every games, and there's often been talk of dealing with these empty seats, though I don't recall it every being acted upon.

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@scoobiesnacks

Nah, he's saying that they'll sell the tickets of people who don't show up at the time of the event, or within a specified amount of time. Not really legally allowable at this point, and pretty far into fantasy land. In London they allowed soldiers and volunteers to sit in seats that weren't currently occupied, under the understanding that they had to move if someone showed up. Actively selling two tickets to the same seat would be a nightmare.

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Cece, I'm going to have to respectfully disagree with the advice that has been dispensed in the last few posts. My professional job is within the trading world, and I'm a ridiculous sports fan and go to pretty much all of the major events, so I have a good grasp on how tickets are traded and valued. I'm mainly putting this out there so that people have a more realistic view of some of the things mentioned here.

Befriend someone on the team: Now Baron is taking a trip into fantasy land. He might as well have suggested that you try to qualify for the Olympic team, or finish med school by May to get a doctor's credential.

I was seriously trying to figure out how I might become best friends with Simone Biles (a likely 16 Olympian) and these bolded lines had me laughing out loud!! And I needed that as I'm feeling kind of torn and bummed about this whole Olympic ticket thing. Someone back thread gave me hope when he told a person to chill out and relax when he didn't get the swimming tickets he wanted because more tickets will be released. There will be tickets. Then I sort lost a bit of hope today. I agree. The chances of someone giving up a gymnastics ticket are slim to none UNLESS they truly only got it for bargaining power for something else. Part of the problem is me and my insistence on one sport, but I feel as if it's the only way I can justify the expense. I am all about the Olympic hoopla and getting to witness and experience an Olympic games as well though. Maybe missing out on this one will be what it takes for me to realize that it is worth spending the money just to be there at all. But it's Rio-going there alone is cool on it's own. Would I even want to try again in 2020-I don't even know if I want to go to Tokyo. It has to be Gymnastics-I am a die hard fan. But I have hotel reservations. It was meant to be and I should see whatever I can just to be there. So you see I am torn. I definitely am willing to pay A- level prices should they become available, but I suppose only time will tell. The hotel I just barely managed to snag is Via Gale Rio De Janiero-but I booked 2 months ago and they seem to be mostly sold out now.

Again, I have to say how much I appreciate all of your knowledge. I don't know anyone who has ever even tried for Olympic tickets and I didn't even know what CoSport was until I went digging for it. I'm glad I went digging further and found this thread. :D

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@scoobiesnacks

Nah, he's saying that they'll sell the tickets of people who don't show up at the time of the event, or within a specified amount of time. Not really legally allowable at this point, and pretty far into fantasy land. In London they allowed soldiers and volunteers to sit in seats that weren't currently occupied, under the understanding that they had to move if someone showed up. Actively selling two tickets to the same seat would be a nightmare.

In London the first few days had tons of empty seats because the people who got the seats for free did not show up. Later on, London started using "seat fillers" so that it looked good for television. Sochi was prepared and had thousands of seat fillers on standby (at the venues) in order to fill as many seats as possible.

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Networking is key to getting Olympic tickets. The internet has made it possible to connect with other genuine fans who have access to other regional ticket draws or local in country tickets. Twitter for the first time played a part in London 2012. Genuine spares are tweeted in the close run up because there is often no other way to offload them. I expect the same to be true in Rio.

By the way the are almost no actual cases of people counterfeiting Olympic tickets in recent times. The tickets have protection built in, pretty much only one company in the world can actually print them. The counterfeiters get caught. What is common though is fake ticketing sites on the internet, the answer is just to use the accredited ones listed on the Rio site.

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Hey drupha/schuba ...I was ONLY making suggestions. Since you seem to have cornered the market on HOW TO GET TICKETS for the Games, bully for you.


@scoobiesnacks

Nah, he's saying that they'll sell the tickets of people who don't show up at the time of the event, or within a specified amount of time. Not really legally allowable at this point, and pretty far into fantasy land. In London they allowed soldiers and volunteers to sit in seats that weren't currently occupied, under the understanding that they had to move if someone showed up. Actively selling two tickets to the same seat would be a nightmare.

I didn't say they would sell them. I've heard that that's a possibility that might happen and seems entirely logical to me. It has been discussed that that would be one way to accommodate more people and obviate the empty seats. Oh, but hey, excuse me for living since, as I said, you (and that jackass zekelso) are the fonts of knowledge apparently in this racket. :rolleyes:


Networking is key to getting Olympic tickets. The internet has made it possible to connect with other genuine fans who have access to other regional ticket draws or local in country tickets. Twitter for the first time played a part in London 2012. Genuine spares are tweeted in the close run up because there is often no other way to offload them. I expect the same to be true in Rio.

By the way the are almost no actual cases of people counterfeiting Olympic tickets in recent times. The tickets have protection built in, pretty much only one company in the world can actually print them. The counterfeiters get caught. What is common though is fake ticketing sites on the internet, the answer is just to use the accredited ones listed on the Rio site.

Hey scoobie, DON'T venture other options to help others out. It seems only drupha/schuba wants to corner this market.

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Ah, Baron. You do add levity to this forum, and I appreciate your presence. I love that you are committed to this, and you get an A for enthusiasm. Also, I believe in free speech, the internet, etc., and you're entitled to say anything you like. But why post with suggestions when it seems like you have no experience with buying Olympics tickets, and you don't seem to have any information about how they are distributed or how one might go about getting some?

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Ah, Baron. You do add levity to this forum, and I appreciate your presence. I love that you are committed to this, and you get an A for enthusiasm. Also, I believe in free speech, the internet, etc., and you're entitled to say anything you like. But why post with suggestions when it seems like you have no experience with buying Olympics tickets, and you don't seem to have any information about how they are distributed or how one might go about getting some?

Uhmm...you don't know what you're talking about. I've been there; done it -- long before any of you were doing this.

I've even scalped some in my day. So it's NOT like I know nothing about this. But go ahead...KNOCK YOURSELVES out. See if I care.

Edited by baron-pierreIV
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Yup, Cece, the helpful, omniscient Durpha just MINIMIZED all your chances. You might as well pack it in.

Aren't you grateful for such helpful advice he has dispensed? :rolleyes:

Personally, Durpha did not minimize anyone's chances. He just expressed his opinion on the possibility of getting tickets in the various fashions. That being said, my experience with a hotel concierge is that they will just go to a ticket agency and buy a ticket - unless, of course, you have a great relationship with them (read used them before for similar services and know them personally). Why would they go to a lot of work to get you a "special deal" when you may, or may not, give them a substantial tip. Also, what would happen to the concierge if you had a problem with the ticket and they had bought it off a scalper or some other unknown person? Scalpers are a crap shoot. The real issue is that for expensive events you need to carry cash and Rio is known for pick pockets who will be watching. I would not want to carry that much cash around. Also, they will hold out with high prices until the last minute when they know they will not be able to unload the tickets for a high price. Regarding the Brazilian draw...... it is worth a shot if you know someone in country. Anything that gives you another chance at getting tickets should be taken. For befriending a member of the team.......If you can do it then you should. For most people, however, it is impossible to become very close friends with an athlete such that they would sell you tickets.

That being said, we have received very few tickets in the initial draws. We will continue to explore all avenues to get tickets and believe we will be successful.

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I really apprecaite everyone's input and information on this.

Sounds like I'm too late for the German ATR if what's gone is gone and they've been open for a while.

I know someone who knows a Brazil resident-so I was thinking of trying for the resident live sales when they option in October (not the non-resident as that may be too close to the games to make travel arrangements). Again, I'd have to rely on someone I know into getting someone I don't know to facilitate the sale. Iffy.

Yes, it is about the big finals for me. So that's sounding nearly impossible unless I'm lucky or wealthy. I am neither so far! I'm interested in AA, Team Finals or Beam/Bars EF for Women's Artistic. Yeah-the big ones. GA009, 011, 012 or 013. I have been to a World Gymnastics Championships before and it was cool, but you know-The Olympics is the biggest show of them all and I'd love to see the action there.

It's an expensive trip. I went back and forth about whether or not I'd be okay seeing other sports only and not Gymnastics and my decision was no, so I put all my eggs in the Gymnastics basket during the reservation phases. It certainly would be a lot easier if I was willing to just go and see other sports. I could hopefully get something and then try to score gymnastics when I got there. This is my first go round on even trying for Olympic tickets. I had no clue how hard or easy it was. Now that I know what I want to see is in fact extremely difficult to get I may have to adjust my expectations and re think if I'm interested in making the trip for any other sports at this or any future Summer Olympics. I am seeing that flexibility is a key factor to making it work out.

Memonade-I totally appreciate even the mention of the possibility of a trade. I'd have to see if could adjust my hotel reservation and of course I'd have to get my hands on tickets to trade. Again, I understand that was just a mention. In my naivete I only made the hotel reservation to accomodate 3 finals days. Additionally, I had to pay for it in advance so I could only pick so many days and it was basically a crap shoot as I was going in blind so that I could get my hands on some accomodations.

I'm not totally ready to give up yet, but my expectations have been adjusted. I realize and have to accept that if I am not willing to be flexible there is a good chance I won't be going.

I got GA11 Cat D in the first round through Cosport. But I'm in Europe and I think there is less demand for Gymnastics here. The US market is tough for gym because you have a good team

Wondering now if I should have tried for GA9 (the team event) - is that a better one than the individual do you think?

As for "the good stuff is missing" which someone mentioned a little earlier, Cosport are holding that back for packages, normally these tickets come free later in the process (If all the packages don't all sell).

Cosport know they can drop these tickets on the market later and they'll get snapped up. My guess is May 2016 this will happen.

You can see what they are holding onto by browsing their customizable packages, some of the packages let you choose pretty much any ticket (online now there is a GA11 CAT C which you can buy in a package for instance).

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To me, one of the most important aspects to a forum like this is to help people make the best informed decisions that they can make. For someone like fantome14, I'd highly encourage her to stay on the wagon. She just wants to see a variety of events, which is very doable. For cece, she's very focused on seeing two of probably the ten most in demand events within the games, so I wanted to be as honest as possible as to what her chances were before she made an outlay of thousands more dollars. If her chances of getting those tickets are ~1%, it's not going to help her decision making to sugarcoat it.

So to Baron, I think that you've proven on this ticketing thread to be wholly ignorant of how ticketing for the Olympics works. I haven't read much into the rest of the forum, so I don't know if you're all-around ignorant, but I can say that I haven't seen a useful post from you within this area.

Posts like yours are simply DANGEROUS, because you're presenting your fantasies as being realistic options, which may sway the decision making of people who are preparing to spend significant amounts of money on a trip.

Bad ideas proposed by Baron in this thread that I haven't previously discussed:

-Doubting the ticket buying prowess of Volshy

-Telling people to sell tickets in front of the venue when scalping is illegal

-Suggesting that scalpers accept pins as currency

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I know this does not actually belong in the ticketing thread but I have been in contact with Accor hotels. They have a few hotels in Rio. According to Accor, all their Olympic reservations are being taken care of by their "Mega Events" group (megaevents@accor.com). According to that group, they are currently only handling group reservations at this time. However, they expect to release hotel rooms to individuals in early 2016. Rooms will be posted on their normal Accorhotels.com web site.

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Getting GA depends mostly on the amount of effort one puts in I reckon and which categories she is willing to buy as you've said. I only wanted Cat D, but I still got GA9. Right now the toughest ticket in town is the Opening Ceremony Cat D. Maybe that's a 1% chance, but I still fancy my chances, and people are getting even that ticket. There is every chance of getting at least a couple of GA tickets and maybe more if you put the effort in, network and hold your nerve RIGHT up to the wire (and I mean the day before). I would still bag a couple of non-GA tickets at different times though, just in case :). There are very few non enjoyable Olympic events, the atmosphere will be electric.

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