Funnily enough applying for Olympic tickets felt like watching a long race with many hurdles and was an adventure on its own because of all the waiting and mystery involved in it. The process was very different to any other because you apply for the tickets you want and are then put into a lottery to decide whether you get them. This meant it didn't matter how early or late in the application process you applied. This was in a way lucky for us as we crowded round our computer hours before the deadline and tried to decide what events to apply for. We took our chances with the opening and closing ceremonies but didn't think there was much chance of getting these as they were heavily oversubscribed. Then I found it really strange because we tried to pick events nobody would want to go to....to have a better chance of getting tickets. Many other people had applied for too many tickets to improve their chances.
First hurdle completed, we just had to wait for money to mysteriously leave the account. We knew other people who had got tickets but they had no idea which ones as this would be revealed later. I have never been so desperate for money to suddenly disappear from my account! Unfortunately it didn't and my Olympic adventure seemed to have been extinguished even before it started.
There was a second round but to be honest I was pretty unethusiastic by this point and had 'dropped out of the race'.
Fortunately, I have a determined family member who got out of bed super early one Friday to apply for tickets for any events on offer. This time it was first come, first serve and you found out what tickets you got fairly quickly. Looks like all that effort was worth it and we're going to see Olympic Greco-Roman wrestling!! A year seems a long time to wait but it gives me time to find out the rules and what it is. Despite all the fuss of getting tickets and all the highs and lows of waiting, I'm actually really excited to be a part of the 2012 London Olympics.
