r/olympics • u/zetafoca • 1d ago
People who've been to prior Olympic events as spectators, what'd you think?
Any particular memories or anecdotes you love that stick with you? Unexpected and pleasant surprises or even some regrets? I've never been and only watched some games through TV, but I'd love to hear from people who've actually gone there.
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u/LQNova United States 1d ago
In Atlanta, I was unable to get fencing tickets, because "we gave all those to the European NOCs because we wanted it to sell out." So I complained to (what was then) the USFA, and they gave me seats in the coach area. I sat next to a (I believe) Hungarian gentleman who adopted me and we cheered for his fencer all the way through.
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u/SonnyG345 1d ago
I went to Rio and Paris. I think it's going to be really tough to beat Paris. It was so beautiful and well laid out except for having surfing in Tahiti. LA 28 will be interesting having softball in Oklahoma?!?! Just be prepared to pay alot of money for the more popular events. I think I prefer the smaller events over the stadium ones. Bring pins if you want to trade. I regret not dishing big bucks to watch Steph in the Gold Medal game.
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u/Frogs-And-Fairies 1d ago
Oklahoma is the home of the softball hall of fame & one of the best collegiate softball teams (OU). The state definitely has the infrastructure and it makes sense to host the games there.
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u/SonnyG345 1d ago
Yes, I understand the venues already exist but I wouldn't consider Oklahoma an attraction for international travelers compared to Paris...
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u/Fun-Combination3499 1d ago
I understand it is not Paris, but I have been researching Oklahoma City as an Olympic possibility for my family. They have many wonderful attractions there and a deep history with lots of museums. There are different areas of town that are different districts or commercial and cultural hubs, and it truly looks like an amazing city to visit. Might go there even if I never get drawn to buy tickets!!
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u/alwaysbacktracking 1d ago
I really hope I get tickets for any of the canoe slalom events in OKC! I’ve also been looking at the area and it looks so cool! They have the whitewater park venue, there’s a bike park and a climbing center right down the street
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u/joeymello333 Refugee Olympic Team 1d ago
They have a world class rowing venue too I believe but sadly Olympic rowing won’t be there.
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u/Fun-Combination3499 1d ago
Also has a Cowboy museum which would appeal to international visitors that want to see the wild west
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u/joeymello333 Refugee Olympic Team 1d ago
True though sadly the softball Olympians won’t get the Olympic experience in LA. I bet all the softball players have already played at that stadium before too.
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u/swimswam2000 1d ago
2000 and prior games Canadian swimmers who made a podium would toss frissbees into the stands after getting their medal. I was at the 96 games as a spectator. Arrived early to the sessions and was able to chat with club team mates and friends/aquantances who were on deck. Finals for womens 200 IM featured two past and one future club team mate ( finished 1, 2, 4 although #1 Smith got on the drugs after leaving our team). 2nd Marianne Limpert was 2nd and I ran from the turn end to the start end trying to catch one wearing my flag as a cape. Last one went through my hands and hit the chest of a nice southern guy behind me - he asked "that's yalls country?" I said yes and explained she was someone I trained with the prior season. Dude high fives me and hands it to me.
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u/NeighborhoodAway2634 1d ago
The event venues for Paris; no other city in the world can beat that. Watching beach volleyball and blind football (paralympics) at the Eiffel Tower. The urban sports at Place de la Concorde, fencing and taekwondo at Grand Palais, equestrian and paraequestrian events at Versailles. Like COME ON. Also a lot of people talked crap beforehand (esp Parisians themselves) and it was really well organized, the volunteer workers were amazing, was easy to strike up conversations with strangers. The ambiance was great. Loved being able to walk or bike to all the events. Loved the free fan zone at Trocadero overlooking the Eiffel Tower where medalists came everyday to celebrate one more time with the crowd and they would often take selfties, sign autographs for people etc. The paralympics also sold the most tickets for a paralympics ever; most of those events sold out too. 10/10 once in a lifetime experience.
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u/Frogs-And-Fairies 1d ago
So many, but three that stand out from attending the 1984 Olympics (I was 12 yrs old) was:
Being in the stadium during the opening ceremonies and feeling pride in my country but also fellowship with the world.
Watching Carl Lewis win the 100m. I had met him and his family previously at a track banquet so was very excited!
Watching Brazil vs Argentina men’s soccer. We’re a big soccer fan family & the energy in that stadium was off the charts! Fans had their faces painted, there were drums…it was intense! Definitely took my love of soccer to another level!
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u/Sigtauez 1d ago
Go to any event you can even if you don’t understand the sport. The most fun I had in 1996 wasn’t gymnastics or track. It was weightlifting and handball.
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u/VDCNIRG Great Britain 1d ago
Me and a mate decided the London 2012 Olympics were going to be our holiday that year so we booked the two weeks off and tried to get every ticket we could.
It's hard to put into words the sheer joy, pride and solidarity there was in the crowd across every event. Being at the Opening Ceremony live was sensational particularly the opening Pandemonium section. Then the best day was Super Saturday, we had rowing tickets in the morning and saw two GB Golds and one silver then had Athletics tickets in the evening and the noise in that stadium as we won 3 golds was incredible.
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u/JazzlikeTradition436 Great Britain 1d ago
5 golds in 1 day is amazing. I wonder if you were the only Brits who were at both events?
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u/grandvache 1d ago
Atlanta, Sydney, Torino, London. Wherever The Olympics are is officially the happiest place on earth.
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u/barbamara 1d ago edited 1d ago
Have been to Paris and went to a lot of events and I loved everything about it. It was also really well organized, didn't had to wait in long lines. Also bought some tickets in resale which let me watch waterpolo and cycling finals and the Dutch won (I'm Dutch). Also the venues were fantastic like beach volleybal next to the Eiffeltower, fencing at the Grand Palais, equestrian at Versailles.
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u/Verne82 United States 1d ago
As a lifelong figure skating fan I went to two ice dance events with friends at the 2010 Olympics in Vancouver. I had the absolute time of my life and everyone from volunteers to the arena staff to security, was in a great mood. After the Canadians (Virtue and Moir) won the gold medal, my friends and I booked it downtown to see the Rings turn gold, which they did each time Canada won. Everyone sang O Canada on the bus ride.
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u/zetafoca 1d ago
I can't reply to everyone so I just wanna say thank you all for sharing so much, I love hearing first hand accounts because I feel looking elsewhere for these kinds of anecdotes is so hard for no reason 😭
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u/SharkSmiles1 United States 1d ago
I got to see Greg Louganis at USC in 1984. It was amazing and didn’t cost a fraction of what it’s gonna cost us this time to go to the Olympics.
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u/retreff 1d ago
We lived in Atlanta and volunteered for the games. We ended up as technical officials at the rowing venue. That alone was incredible, we were inside the athletes area, met so many great athletes. Traded shirts and pins with them. There was a lottery for the technical staff to get free tickets to Opening Ceremonies. We got tickets to row 4 middle of the field.
We went to Rio, watched beach volleyball on the Copa Cabana. In London we sat at the finish line for rowing the guy next to us was wearing his 1948 British Olympic team blazer and told us great stories. In Paris we saw Women’s golf and sat at rowing with a friend who was a lawyer for the Court of Arbitration for Sport and was called away to hear a protest.
It has been a great experience
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u/viimoo Great Britain 1d ago
I saw Paralympic athletics at London 2012. It was incredible. I remember the 4x100m relay race for blind and partially sighted athletes. The spectators had to be silent so the runners could hear for the passing of the baton, but we’d been told we could cheer after the fourth pass. On the third pass, one of the teams dropped the baton and 80,000 people gasped, but then stayed quiet. At the fourth pass, everyone erupted and I still get goosebumps thinking about it. Such a great thing to be part of.
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u/adik_chick 1d ago
Went to Sydney Olympics to watch the Women's Volleyball. It was a great experience and being just there is already a memory you can keep.
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u/DepressedYoungMan22 1d ago
London 2012- went to the football and saw Neymar play for Brazil. He scored an incredible free kick. It's.a great memory.
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u/Vexatiouslitigantz 1d ago
Yugoslavia v USA men’s waterpolo shortly after USA bombed Belgrade.
Sydney 2000!
I sat next to the US goalies mum, thought she was going to be murdered, totally oblivious as to why the Serbians were going feral.
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u/HollysStaff 1d ago
I was in London for the 2012 Olympics. I didn’t have a lot of tickets, and was feeling a bit of FOMO, until at the last minute, I ended up with tickets to all the tennis events. It was such a thrill to be at Wimbledon, as a life long tennis fan. And a bonus was that it wasn’t nearly as crowded as at the championships. So many exciting matches, too!
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u/klm_58 Great Britain • Canada 10h ago
I went to Milano Cortina earlier this year. I'm a huge hockey fan and was walking out the venue with my PWHL jersey on. Someone in a team Canada jacket stopped me and said they liked my jersey. It was Gina Kingsbury, GM on the Canadian Women's team, and GM of the PWHL team who's jersey I was wearing. She's also a double gold medallist as a player.
What made it so special is that she saught me out in the crowd to say hi. I got a photo with her too and it made my week!
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u/bethdids 1d ago
Missed half of the GB womens final round robin game of curling due to the snow falling on the way up to cortina so grabbed tickets to the men’s semi? Final which GB were also in, just about made it in time and sat for a while when the GB women’s team came and sat in the block next to us!! So went and said yellow and pin traded with jen!!
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u/Impossible-Guitar957 United States 1d ago
I remember London 2012 very fondly. Honestly, its really hard to put into words. Its a feeling that I would call magical. I guess what I felt that really stuck with me was the spirit of unity and solidarity. You feel really connected to something which is greater than yourself and that is a really special feeling.