16 August 2004Sports
They Held the Olympics and Nobody Showed Up

Avoiding the NewsI've been watching the Olympics for three days now and there's the awful trend that is really sad for the organizers of the games in Athens. After an Opening Ceremonies where the stadium was packed full of enthusiasts, athletes have been laboring in the obscurity of empty arenas all across Greece. From beach volleyball, to tennis, to rowing, the crowds have been sparse and the venues have been empty.

It's not just a matter of a seat here or a seat there. Huge blocks of seats are empty. It's eerie. The biggest surprise is at the gymnastics arena. Gymnastics is typically the jewel of the Olympics. But in the prelims, just like everywhere else, except maybe swimming, the fans are staying away in droves.

It's sad that even if terrorists don't manage to disrupt the games with a bomb or some other incident, their impact on these games is felt nonetheless. They have succeeded in sowing fear so deep in the rest of the world that people are staying away from one of the greatest sporting shows on earth.

Posted by andrew at August 16, 2004 01:32 PM


Comments

JenBen Says:

Don't be too disheartened. Yesterday (Sunday) was a religious holiday in Greece (the assumption?). It should get better from now on.

August 16, 2004 07:47 PM
brian Says:

One Costas excuse was that Athenians tend to take August off as a holiday, so many are gone.

Well then, perhaps the IOC should have taken that into account when deciding where to hold the SUMMER olympics.

If the Greeks have a huge bill at the end of these games, they have only themselves to blame.

I've enjoyed the games on TV, although I hate knowing all of the key medal results a full half day before they show the events on TV.

I'm reminded of the rare U.S. t.v. pleasure of the 2002 World Cup in South Korea/Japan, where they showed the games live at 1 am, 3am and 7am in the U.S. - so much better to watch them live even if you have to adjust your schedule.

August 16, 2004 09:03 PM
JenBen Says:

Actually, the organizers are very happy with sales. They should reach their goal of 3.5 million tickets sold.

Currently sales are at 3,285,000 tickets sold, which is higher than the Seoul and the Barcelona games.

Many empty seats were purchased by corporate sponsors, who handed them out to clients...who didn't show. So the sales are fine, it's just getting bodies in the seats that's slow.

August 17, 2004 06:51 AM




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