Tony Estanguet had announced it a long time ago: the organizing committee of the Paris Olympics (Cojo) had decided “to reverse the logic of the draw”. And a priori, the lucky winners have turned their heads upside down to get a few sesames for the 2024 edition. Finally for those of the very first session on Wednesday February 15, connected from 11 a.m., without a final in major sports.
How then did the Cojo determine the number of places per category and per sport available during these “pack” sessions? Is it verified that the last drawn for this session which is due to end on March 15 will have almost no chance of having a ticket for rowing qualifications under 180 euros? The authority tells us that three million tickets were put on sale, out of a total of ten and “that all categories were represented during this first sale. » Full of hope at 20 minutesas big sports fans, we can tell you about our own experience.
“It’s the event of a lifetime”
Tuesday, February 21, 11 a.m.: finally, the long-awaited session opens. I can start buying tickets for the Paris Olympics, “a once-in-a-lifetime experience”, said the parents on the phone last night, who made an Excel table much more efficient than the original . I have already read and heard on the radio the criticisms of users who were lucky enough to be drawn before me, but there is hope: I believe in it! Finally, from 11:10 am, I become disillusioned. Indeed, either the prices are exorbitant, or the sports still available do not kick me, or the days of competition overlap, or the proposed sessions stop before the final stages, or all four!
Cris Bernardin, PE teacher in Val-d’Oise, can testify to this: “It’s the event of a lifetime, I’ve been saving for two or three years now, a few holiday budgets will go into the Olympics budget. and for the moment, I have managed to get 12 places for 1,200 euros, but including a lot of “minor” sports”. Impossible for this basketball fan to have a place beyond the quarter-finals. “Normally I have the quarter where there will be either France or the United States, for the tidy sum of… 280 euros for men and 125 for women”. He adds that he also “to complete a pack” took a golf place at 24 euros, “but I’m not sure at all to go there”.
“Out of 750 sessions for the Olympic Games, 80% of the sessions are put on sale from this sale of packs”, specifies the Cojo. For the remaining 20%, “which concern very high demand such as athletics, swimming or team sports finals”, will not be put on sale until May 11, with pre-registration required between March 15 and March 20. april.
A more than substantial budget vs “popular games”
For my part, I’m opting for the women’s rugby sevens final, a round of 16 beach volleyball session and a qualifying evening in water polo. Total with service charges of 1.5% included: 294.35 euros. Far from being accessible to everyone and especially without the events I was aiming for, namely handball, athletics, swimming, climbing or even canoeing/kayaking in open water (eclecticism, that’s the only real thing!). A recurring criticism among the Twittos and lucky winners, who have not forgotten the words of the Cojo on “Popular games accessible to all”.
Cris, who prepared this session with friends, is well aware of this: “We all work in the field of sport, at a management level. The prices are clearly excessive. Our Val-d’Oise PE teacher has planned a budget of 2,000 euros in total: “I will do everything to have the basketball final, men or women, even if it means paying the price”. And by May, Cris intends to tighten his belt to be able to participate in the draw for single tickets. “And we are thinking with my partner about renting our apartment in Cergy during the Olympics to be able to have fun. We will sleep with my parents in the Paris region. Frankly, it is an option that we are considering more and more”.
The next more satisfying sales phases?
For the organizing committee, “if the Paris 2024 ticket office is very successful, there are still great opportunities to experience the Games, with tickets at 50 euros and less, available in around fifteen disciplines, for this first phase. sales, even if some sports or disciplines are already sold out in less than a week, such as rock climbing, fencing, judo, breaking, skateboarding, or BMX racing and freestyle”. A priori, these will be available in the next sales phases. Does this mean that the next draws for this phase which runs until March 15 have nothing more to expect?
It is always difficult to find your way around in this ticketing calendar and its multiple modalities, this “logic of the reverse draw”, in order, among other things, to fill the enclosures even for minor sports, the usual Achilles heel of the Olympic Games. . Cris has already had an Olympic experience in 2016 in Rio, on a more classic principle. “There was a single date for the sale of all tickets, no packs, and yet, we had seen a match of a preliminary round of water polo, the nautical stadium was full. Frankly, at the time, I had 650 euros for 13 events, I saw the final of Teddy Riner and Clarisse Agbegnenou, a fencing final and I was at the athletics session with the finals 100 and 400 meters,” he says. Like an air of “it was better before” but without Marseillaise at home.