Last Chance for Olympic Glory

Hear ye, hear ye! Check out what the ticket looks like for the Beijing Olympics!

The ticket samples were proudly released today and feature the design of the National Stadium, or Bird's Nest, and the "lucky cloud" designs. Apparently they started thinking of the ticket design back in 2006. The one shown above is for the Opening Ceremonies.

According to the official website:

With continued innovation, tickets have become information-richer and more distinguishable for Olympic fans. In order to come up with the final product, every aspect of ticket design and composition, including paper and ink, underwent serious scrutiny by creative experts. The result: an efficient ticket design full of unique Olympic flavor.

And Chinese residents will have one last chance to get a coveted Olympic ticket or two starting on May 5.

Today the Beijing Olympic organizers held a press conference to explain how the third round of tickets would be sold before August.

Instead of the previous two lottery systems, the remaining 1.38 million tickets will be sold in a first-come-first-served basis, with each person eligible to buy three tickets for each event, and only for two events. They can do this online or in person at certain Bank of China outlets.

Those lucky enough to get tickets online must pay for them within a period of time, otherwise they will be released and up for grabs again.

Organizers claim there is not enough time to do a lottery system. They also say they have revamped the ticketing system so it won't crash from millions of people trying to buy tickets online, which is what happened late last year... within the first hour.

However, one wonders if they really do have the matter in hand and realize people are going to stop everything -- work and class -- to get tickets.

If the Chinese government is determined to finish the torch relay, 1.3 billion people will do whatever it takes to get the last Olympics tickets.

May 5 is going to be a crazy day. Stay tuned.