The tickets are all sold, but the venues are not full
Friday, 15th August 2008 ~ Maggie ~ Link ~ Comments (0)
Plenty of open seats in Wukesong Arena at the China-Angola men's basketball game
I am talking about empty seats—big swaths of blue, red or grey in arenas and gymnasiums. I saw more again as I watched the opening games of the beach volleyball tournament, and when I attended Olympic tennis, beach volleyball and basketball.
Before Memphis played its second game against the Chinese national team in Yangjiang this spring, assistant coach Rod Strickland looked up at the stands an hour before game time and wondered, "Will they fill it up?"
"This is China," I assured him. "They can fill up any venue they want to." But when the game tipped off, the crowd in that gym was below capacity. Yao Ming, Yi Jianlian and Wang Zhizhi were all out of action, but in a city of 2.6 million people, precious few of whom will have the chance to see Team China in action in Beijing, each one of the 4,000 seats should have been taken. And how can you explain empty chairs at the recent basketball games, featuring China at full strength and starring NBA players who have millions of fans here?
Much has been made of the tickets to these Olympics being sold out, thanks in large part to the large number of affordable tickets being made available domestically. But I wonder if that actually means that the venues will host capacity crowds. When I waited in lines in ticketing phases 3 and 4, I met more than a few people who were waiting in line for their bosses, who wanted tickets to give away to clients. I always found more of these ticket buyers near the front of the line—on the clock and under the gun, they seemed more likely to arrive extremely early.
So what happens when the boss gives a pair of tickets to a fencing preliminary to a client who decides that seeing the event is not worth the time she would need to spend out of the office? What happens when he gives tickets to a client in Sichuan, who decides he can't afford the flight to Beijing and the hotel stay?
This is just one of the many ways that sold out tickets can be prevented from turning into packed gymnasiums. I don't doubt that there are enough sports fans in Beijing to fill all of the Olympic venues—I have gotten calls and messages from Chinese friends desperately seeking a way to buy tickets to taekwondo, basketball and swimming. I had to explain to them that many of my tickets were bought in the United States from people who discovered at the last minute that they couldn't come... visa restrictions, maybe?
I have a feeling that we will see more empty seats than many people expect. If my experience is any indication, something is getting in the way of getting tickets in the hands of people who can actually attend the games.
Related: Washington Post on attendance problems
Tags: basketball, beach volleyball, Beijing Olympics, Olympic ticketing, swimming, tennis
A day at the Olympics: Tennis, water polo and beach volleyball
Wednesday, 13th August 2008 ~ Maggie ~ Link ~ Comments (0)
The Olympics is a couple dozen world-class sporting events rolled into one. Here's my report on a day spent soaking up as much of it as possible.8:30 a.m. I run into an old water polo teammate on the Line 10 subway. She has an extra ticket for the afternoon session, which she gives to me. This might be my only chance to see water polo, one of my favorite sports.
9:50 a.m. Get off the subway at the supposed Line 8 transfer point. We follow signs for Line 8 that actually lead us to a security line to get into the Olympic Green—does Line 8 actually exist?
We get in the security line and a volunteer who noticed our tickets pulls us out to tell us that we need to take a bus to get to the tennis.
10:10 a.m. We arrive at the tennis venue, after a ride past the Water Cube and Bird's Nest. I noticed some sponsors' tents, looking a little empty. I've heard that sponsors are a little miffed that only ticket holders are allowed into the Olympic Green (a huge area containing eight venues). They were hoping for more foot traffic.
Zheng Jie in the second round of women's tennis singles
10:30 a.m. Peng Shuai's match with Alize Cornet of France begins at Center Court. Peng is not playing great, and loses 6-2, 6-2. But luckily our tickets give us access to all of the venue's courts, so more tennis awaits.
1:00 p.m. We move from Center Court to No. 1 Court, where Zheng Jie is playing Nuria Llagostera Vives of Spain. It's the best tennis match that I have ever seen live, with beautiful shots from both players, great effort to chase down balls and at least one deuce in almost every set. The crowd is enthusiastic, maybe a little too much so. Despite regular requests from officials, they never really get the message that tennis culture calls for quiet while each point is being played. With a great boost from the home crowd, the under-rated Zheng wins in three sets that take more than three hours to play.
4:00 p.m. I head to the Olympic bus depot hoping to find an easy shuttle ride to the water polo venue. None of the volunteers seem to know how to get there, so I make my best guess and hop on the bus line 5. It gets me there slowly, and I still have a pretty good walk from the bus to Ying Tung Natatorium.
4:40 p.m. I arrive at the water polo in time to see the second half of play between two of the world's best men's teams, Serbia and Croatia. Croatia wins, 11-8.
China men's water polo lost to Germany, 6-5
5:00 p.m. I watch a surprisingly good Chinese men's team play Germany in the last water polo game of the afternoon. Water polo is new to China, but its teams are improving fast. China's goalie plays great, but the team seems exhausted in the last quarter. China loses, 6-5.
6:45 p.m. I arrive, via subway and taxi, at the beach volleyball venue in Chaoyang Park. It's beautiful from the outside and rockin' on the inside. In addition to the great athleticism on display, the crowd is going nuts over the blaring party music and the bikini-clad dancers who entertain twice for every match played. Beers for 5 RMB do their part to add to the party atmosphere. We get to see a total of six matches, lasting until midnight and including the Chinese duo of Zhang Xi (张希) and Xue Chen (薛晨), who defeat their German opponents.
10:30 I have my second random collision with a friend who doesn't live in China. Charley Walters, a friend from college, has flown in from Los Angeles to watch the games. He has been to the last five Olympics and is blogging about his trip at Olympics or Bust. Just how much of a party is the beach volleyball tournament? Check out his video below.
12:00 a.m. I go home exhausted after three events in three venues, with four competitions featuring Chinese athletes.
Tags: beach volleyball, Beijing Olympics, tennis, water polo, Xue Chen, Zhang Xi, Zheng Jie, 张希, 薛晨
China's women aiming for gold in beach volleyball
Monday, 11th August 2008 ~ Chris ~ Link ~ Comments (0)
Since first appearing as an exhibition sport in the 1992 Barcelona Olympics and making its debut as a medal event in Atlanta four years later, the fast-paced sport of beach volleyball has quickly become one of the most popular Olympic events.
An easy-to-understand combination of power, speed and spandex, the sport pulled 3.5 billion viewing hours during the 2004 games in Athens and has already proven quite popular with Chinese audiences during this year's Beijing games, with spectators consistently packing the stands at the beach volleyball ground in Chaoyang Park.
As an Olympic sport, beach volleyball has been dominated by the triumvirate of Brazil, the US and Australia – no other countries have won gold medals in either men's or women's beach volleyball to date. Each country has won gold once in the women's event.
This year there may be a new world order in Olympic beach volleyball, as China has a good shot at joining the women's beach volleyball gold club. Fielding its best talent ever and enjoying a home-field advantage, China has two talented teams in the women's competition that are both considered serious medal contenders.
Tian Jia (田佳) and Wang Jie (王洁) – who beat Lea Schwer and Simone Kuhn of Switzerland 2:0 on Saturday – are top seeds in Pool A after placing second in the qualification round for the event. They are expected to advance beyond their group, which also includes Belgium and Norway.
China's other women's team, consisting of Zhang Xi (张希) and Xue Chen (薛晨), has also started off on the right foot in the Olympic tournament, beating Greece's Efthalia Koutroumanidou and Maria Tsiartsiani 2:1 in Chaoyang Park on Sunday. Zhang and Xue – who was named top rookie in 2006 by the International Federation of Volleyball - are playing in Pool D, which is rounded out by Germany and South Africa.
Experience will be a big factor for both pairs – each of whom have been playing together since 2006. Tian Jia has played in previous Olympics and has also been playing internationally since 1998 and she has extensive international experience playing together with Wang.
Zhang and Xue, both making their Olympic debut on Sunday, dropped one set to their Greek opponents, but according to Xue, who at 19 is the youngest beach volleyball player competing in Beijing, any Olympic jitters are behind them.
"We were a little bit strained in the game and the rivals are very strong, so we lost a set," Xue told Xinhua after the match, "But we'll be very confident in playing in the next matches," she said.
Xue Chen image: 2008.sina.com
Tian Jia/Wang Jie image: hi.baidu.com
Tags: beach volleyball, Olympics, Tian Jia, Wang Jie, Xue Chen, Zhang Xi