Opinion

It’s all an Olympic waste of time

A revolting logo, a nauseating sponsorship deal, and a peculiar ticketing system all leave me with a feeling that it is not quite cricket

I was in two minds about buying my Olympics tickets for some time. This was a chance to see some great riding. But champing at the bit, I was not.

As one may expect, tickets were not cheap and of course I wanted good value for money. Seeing good horse-and-rider combinations strut their stuff is great, but it may be better value-for-money to invest in training with one of those riders. However, regarding tickets, as you may well know, one could not simply buy them. It was a sort of lottery in which one had to register, ask for whatever tickets one wanted and hand over intimate financial/personal details, all in order to wait with bated breath at the prospect of being allocated the ‘requested’ tickets.

I can easily add to this the necessity of having to use a VISA card to pay for such tickets. It looks like a revolting sponsorship deal. This does not reconcile with the otherwise rather sensible explanation currently doing the rounds. This is that due to a unique rule governing the use of VISA accounts, the tickets bought with them cannot be sold on to ticket touts and thus the price not be inflated or used as a vehicle for insalubrious activity. Of course it is perfectly possible that such a sensible rule and such a nauseating sponsorship deal are not mutually exclusive. If it were a combination of the two, I think it would reflect well on the organisers.

Commentators have been rather negative about the Olympics up to now, moaning that “It’ll be crap because it is in London and not anywhere else”, which is itself a relief. Perhaps the sort of furtive stubbornness we have seen from the Olympic organisers is the result of such attacks. The side-effects of having people tough enough to organise the largest sporting event in the world are a revolting logo, a nauseating sponsorship deal and a peculiar ticketing system. It all leaves me with a feeling that it is not quite cricket.

From Issue 1487

6th May 2011

Discover stories from this section and more in the list of contents

Explore the edition

Read more

Peter Haynes to take over Provost role in October

News

Peter Haynes to take over Provost role in October

Professor Peter Haynes has been appointed as the new Provost and Deputy President of Imperial College. The current  Vice-Provost for Education and Student Experience, Haynes will succeed the outgoing Provost, Professor Ian Walmsley, who has served in the role since 2018. Imperial President Hugh Brady said Professors Haynes and Walmsley

By Guillaume Felix
Why RAG’s bungee jump event never took place

News

Why RAG’s bungee jump event never took place

Earlier this academic year, Imperial Raising and Giving (RAG), had announced the return of their charity bungee jump after a hiatus of 10 years. The event, however, was postponed several times, and Felix can now reveal why it was cancelled. The event, initially scheduled for November 13th, was postponed several

By Mohammad Majlisi and Nadeen Daka
Palestine protests ramp up as year ends and tensions rise

News

Palestine protests ramp up as year ends and tensions rise

Saturday 7th June: Pro-Palestinian protestors hold banners as they stand on ALERT at the Great Exhibition Road Festival. Tuesday 10th June: A student announces a hunger strike asking for Imperial to investigate Islamophobia and anti-Arab racism, form a student-staff working group on ethical investment, and divest from arms companies accused

By Mohammad Majlisi