First we ran the story 75% of tickets unsold in 2nd phase despite high bookings which is directly below this.

Now we show the other side of the story which are that tickets to the 2008 Games are proving to be among the most coveted in sporting history.

Scalpers already are demanding as much as $40,000 a seat for the August 8 opening ceremony, and tickets for popular sports such as basketball, gymnastics and ping pong (a particular Chinese favorite) are going for ten times their face value. The person in our illustration applying for tickets at the Bank of China simply has no chance. None whatsoever.

The demand for the roughly seven million tickets that the Beijing Olympic Committee is putting on sale for the general public comes from inside and out.

One side are Americans and Europeans who have long dreamed of visiting China and think the Olympics will be the right occasion. On the other, middle-class Chinese families who want to watch with pride as their nation celebrates what is widely touted as a coming-out party.

On the domestic market, ticket seekers have been frustrated by long lines and crashing computer systems.

Two rounds of lotteries to buy tickets have yielded far more losers than winners. The disappointed are pleading their case for tickets on Ganji.com, which is sort of the Craig’s List of China. Even previous contestants cannot get tickets. Ji Ting, a 31-year-old former television executive posted an advertisement for the Olympic Star Security Fund, a charity she set up last year to buy tickets for former Olympians. She said, ‘These retired athletes don’t have much money. They’re not good with computers. They won’t stand a chance on their own.’

The charity has so far been unable to purchase a single ticket through the regular distribution network, so is asking the Beijing organizers to donate a few dozen tickets — at least enough to give to one gold medalist from each of China’s 23 provinces.

Officials of the Beijing Organizing Committee for the Games of the XXIX Olympiad say the competition for tickets is a badge of success.

Jeffrey Ruffolo, a spokesman for the committee said, ‘The interest level is staggering. It’s way beyond what we saw in the last three Olympics.’

So what is the problem?

First, the organizers set aside nearly three-quarters of the tickets for the domestic market. That means fewer to be distributed abroad.

Second, the problems exist only in hot events.

One Beijing scalper offering tickets to men’s basketball and ping pong, along with the 110-meter hurdles in which Chinese heartthrob Liu Xiang is a contender, said he expected to get at least $2,000 each for tickets with a face value of $110 to $150. His advertisement on Ganji.com reads, ‘If you’re not financially strong, don’t bother me.’
Source: LA Times

More and more the future Olympics are showing a certain style. The Chinese element is there, quite strongly, but blended in to an overall design. Now the People’s Bank of China has started to put on sale the second set of precious metal commemorative coins for the 29th Olympic Games and they are quite the article.

The set consists of eight coins, including two 1/3 ounce gold coins, four one-ounce silver coins, one five-ounce gold coin and one one-kilogram silver coin.

An official of China Gold Coins Incorporation said, perfectly correctly,  the current issue has a distinctive Chinese flavor. The obverse design of all of the coins features the emblem of the 29th Olympic Games amidst the traditional image of a pair of facing dragons, plus the name of the country and the year ‘2008′.

The reverse design of 1/3 ounce gold coins shows ancient Chinese swimming and weightlifting respectively.

Four one-ounce silver coins have a reverse design featuring the Great Wall, Summer Palace, Beihai Park or the traditional Beijing dwelling house, plus patterns of traditional Chinese painted pottery, enamel and lacquer art and the blue-and-white porcelain respectively.

The five-ounce gold coin’s reverse design features the image of traditional Chinese martial arts and an abstract depiction of the five Olympic rings., while the reverse of the one-kilogram silver coin is engraved with an image of dragon boat and horse racing.

The reverse of all coins bears ‘the 29th Olympic Games’ in Chinese in addition to the coin’s face value.

Collectors can visit the coin site. According to an agreement between the BOCOG and the People’s Bank, the latter will issue the third set of coins in 2008. The first set was issued last year.
Source: Jongo News