Anyone going to Sochi in 2014?

[somcutza]

Hopefully, I'll get some tickets; and be able to go. And for the rest - practice paaaaass ) Anyway, for any of you having been to the Olympics before, I suppose there'll be giant screens everywhere (I'm not sure if I want to watch the other events - that I'm not able to attend - in a hotel room... But I'm dreaming at this point; we'll see what I can get.

Actually, if I get to go, after all, I'll have to pick one or two events. Otherwise it's too expensive for me, since there are travel and hotel costs to consider as well, and they are not going to be low by any means. So if you are not sure whether to travel to one or two events only, I'd say - go for it

[somcutza]

manh, this si a very good piece of news; thank you for that. It kinda makes me consider going to the Olympics even if I can't get tickets to everything I want.
But - on the other hand - what do you mean by "abnormally yearly hour"? Are there practice sessions (usually) only in the official arena, which is why the early hour? (before the competitions that day...?) I used to think that is an auxiliary practice facility, as in Worlds or any other FS events... In Nice, last year, the practice rink was virtually across the street; and you could spend the entire day there - probably, one of the best experiences of that championships...
As for Vancouver, it was a daily practice pass (as usual) or just for a few hours?
I'm becoming annoying, I know, with all these questions; but this comes from the lack of experience when it comest to the Olympics. When I go to a figure skating event - I want to see all of it, practice included. And, from this point of you, the Olympics will traumatise me, not being able too se the whole package. But I'm trying to see if there's a point in spending a lot of money with going to Sochi when I won't be able (probably) to buy only a very limited amount of tickets. And practice passes would very much represent a "plus" to that...

To be more exact, it was $30 per practice session. IIRC, there were 7 practice sessions. Yes, an affordable option, relatively speaking. I went to five of them and by the end of it, I would go (they started at some abnormally early hour) and then slept through everyone.

ETA: I believe the practice tickets were only available for Canadian residents, right? Some Canadian FSUers bought extra tickets for non-Canadian FSUers. So, if there are practice tickets for sale, they may only be sold to Russians.

[SandraMGfan]

The Vancouver 2010 practice passes were sold at the ticket booth in Vancouver only I believe. I bought mine with a non-Canadian Visa.
When Manhn says early, it was EARLY lol, like 5.30-6 am start! The passes were not for the entire practice but rather from 5.30-6 am to 12 or 1pm depending on the session. I remember being a bit p*ssed off at the Men practice because the pass ended right when the last Men group was taking the ice.
Like Manhn, by the time week 2 started I was also having naps during those practice session! lol

[manhn]

Yes, I think we bought tickets online (it was a last minute announcement and they didn't give us a whole lot of time to prepare) but tickets could only be picked up in person (other tickets were delivered).

The public was not allowed access to the practice sessions in the practice rink. We only got to see practices at the main arena. And only for a set time--so, if there were skaters still to practice after a certain time (I think Sandra is correct that was noon or 1pm), then tough break. I recall not seeing Joannie practice on the day the news was released that her mother passed away.

Whether the practices will be open to the public will be the decision of the Sochi Olympics Committee--the IOC may have a say, but it's probably a formality kind of thing. I hope they open it for all your sakes.

I didn't see any of the pairs (never tried to buy them--I had family that weekend coming up; we saw Women's Hockey, saw Medals Ceremonies, checked out a bunch of pavilions) or the Gala. I saw everything else. And I'm glad I did--but I can easily say that I had just as much fun with my family and my friends and my FSU friends and myself doing other Olympic-related stuff not at all related to skating. There will be wayyyy too much stuff to do. Sochi, I'm sure, will be a wonderful host.

ETA: I know it's eville and everything, but there will no doubt be tons of people scalping tickets outside the stadiums. If you're willing to miss the first flight, you can no doubt get tickets at pretty darn good prices.

[Ziggy]

I promised my 12 yr. old niece during the drive back from the 2010 Mens Olympic FS, wherein we watched live Evgeni Plushenko win the Olympic Silver Medal, that we were going to the 2014 Sochi Olympics if Zhenya will be there also competing. And that's all I have to say about that.

So what are you gonna do now? Buy the tickets, plane tickets and book accommodation but cancel it all and stay home once he inevitably withdraws in the last moment because of his 435365646 injuries?

[somcutza]

You're absolutely lucky to seen them all. I kinda envy you for that. I'm not a fan of pairs either - or, better said, I would actually give up pairs for the other events (my list is: men, ice dance and ladies; and, eventually, team - though I don't really know what this mean; but if things go rough, I'll better go with the teams; at least, I'll see some beautiful performances of the best skaters... Do you happen to know anything in particular about this Team-events? I suppose there'll be like World Team Trophy in a way...)

On the other hand, I don't really wanna know how much you spent seing everything (no, I wanna know; but I better not to ). I'm not a resident of Sochi/Russian Federation - and this will add much more to my trip than the actual (and possible/probable) tickets.

As for the scalpers no way I'm gonna count on them. If I can't buy a reasonable ticket (amount of tickets) from Bucharest, my residence, I'll give up the Olympics and go to the European Championships in Budapest instead. At least, I'm gonna see some of the Olympic programs in advance. But I'll be sorry not being able to see the Japanese skaters in action (Dai, Yuzuru, Mao, Akiko) and Yuna... and the final act of Plushenko...

Anyway, I'm trying to get some tickets; thank you (all) for your help; I really appreciate it.

On the other hand, has any of you ever tried to obtain tickets by means of the National Olmpic Committee? I mean the official site of Sochi states that a part of the tickets (I'm not sure which amount...) goes to the NOC's and to the Authorised Ticket Resellers. (For Romania - is an unknown - for me - ATR: cartan Tours from California; never heard of it. But as a member of EU, the Romanian citizens can also buy tickets through CoSport. What about the National Committees? I suppose they should have (given the fact that they receive some tickets) a procedure by means of which we should buy some of them... Does anyone knows something about that?

Yes, I think we bought tickets online (it was a last minute announcement and they didn't give us a whole lot of time to prepare) but tickets could only be picked up in person (other tickets were delivered).

The public was not allowed access to the practice sessions in the practice rink. We only got to see practices at the main arena. And only for a set time--so, if there were skaters still to practice after a certain time (I think Sandra is correct that was noon or 1pm), then tough break. I recall not seeing Joannie practice on the day the news was released that her mother passed away.

Whether the practices will be open to the public will be the decision of the Sochi Olympics Committee--the IOC may have a say, but it's probably a formality kind of thing. I hope they open it for all your sakes.

I didn't see any of the pairs (never tried to buy them--I had family that weekend coming up; we saw Women's Hockey, saw Medals Ceremonies, checked out a bunch of pavilions) or the Gala. I saw everything else. And I'm glad I did--but I can easily say that I had just as much fun with my family and my friends and my FSU friends and myself doing other Olympic-related stuff not at all related to skating. There will be wayyyy too much stuff to do. Sochi, I'm sure, will be a wonderful host.

ETA: I know it's eville and everything, but there will no doubt be tons of people scalping tickets outside the stadiums. If you're willing to miss the first flight, you can no doubt get tickets at pretty darn good prices.

[Elkmaria]

ETA: I know it's eville and everything, but there will no doubt be tons of people scalping tickets outside the stadiums. If you're willing to miss the first flight, you can no doubt get tickets at pretty darn good prices.

Scalpers are usually quite active in Russia, but this time drastic measures are taken against them - if caught, a scalper will have to pay a fine up to $35000. So I think scalpers will be more cautious at the Olympics and won't risk selling tickets in front of the arena.

[senorita]

So nobody from Russia can buy tickets for non Russian residents, right? Apart from that all cheap categories are sold out or not on sale yet? The finals are not also on sale.

[DaveRocks]

So nobody from Russia can buy tickets for non Russian residents, right? Apart from that all cheap categories are sold out or not on sale yet? The finals are not also on sale.

I don't see why a Russian resident couldn't buy a ticket for a non-Russian resident.

The finals (free programmes) are currently sold out on the Sochi site. But, I suspect more tickets will open up to the public as the event gets nearer.

[SandraMGfan]

On the other hand, has any of you ever tried to obtain tickets by means of the National Olmpic Committee? I mean the official site of Sochi states that a part of the tickets (I'm not sure which amount...) goes to the NOC's and to the Authorised Ticket Resellers. (For Romania - is an unknown - for me - ATR: cartan Tours from California; never heard of it. But as a member of EU, the Romanian citizens can also buy tickets through CoSport. What about the National Committees? I suppose they should have (given the fact that they receive some tickets) a procedure by means of which we should buy some of them... Does anyone knows something about that?

For London2012, I got tickets through the French National OC, through friends and family. I will give it a try again this time. But France still hasn't given the rights to a reseller so no tix until the fall.
I don't expect a high demand for Russian Olympics in France, so I'm quite hopeful I can get hockey tix, as it's not very popular in France!

[victoriajh]

the 2010 committee kept saying how they were going to go after people who resold tix- yes i never heard of it happening- and we knew enough people that we managed to get thix for what we wanted- also i got a few on the this board !! which was great!-
there was a lot going on outside of arenas- but being such a HUGe pairs fan- it would have been torture to know it was happening - i was IN the town it was happening and i was not there- i would LOVE to go to sochi- alas work- family and finances will not allow.....

[senorita]

I don't see why a Russian resident couldn't buy a ticket for a non-Russian resident.

Because in the official site it says sth like , the person who owns/buys a ticket has to pick it up for himself plus the pass of the Games you have to apply for, without which you cannot enter even if you have a ticket. If everything has your name on, how would someone else pick it for you? Maybe I have understood wrongly?
The CoSport site sales sth like a 3days packet with 7000$ which is insane, for me and my friends at least. I cant figure out how I choose my own packet. Can I pm someone who has booked from this site already?

The finals (free programmes) are currently sold out on the Sochi site. But, I suspect more tickets will open up to the public as the event gets nearer.

We entered the first day of sale, how did they all got sold out for all 4 disciplines?

[somcutza]

God luck for those who'll use CoSport for buying tickets in 30 minutes. I'm eager to know what they'll sell at this point: curious to know if Figure Skating tickets are still available after the Expression of Interest and whether they sell C and D Category. As for me, after bothering you with an avalanche of questions, I've decided to give it a try through our NOC, in a few weeks. We do have representatives in Men and Ladies - and maybe I'll be lucky enough to get some tickets without the live sale hassle. But do please keep me updated with your victories ; I'd love to see everyone getting what he/she wants (me included).

[morqet]

Tickets are up on CoSport - availabilty for every session, but only category A & B seats, and with the usual giant CoSport mark up - it looks like about 140 euros increase on top category tickets, so cat A gala seats are 570 euros on the Sochi site, but 710 euros through CoSport, & for free skate sessions it's 495euros on the main site and 627 with Cosport. So frustrating that they're allowed to make such a big increase, especially after the shambles of ticket collection in London seemed to suggest they don't actually do anything for the extra money!

[somcutza]

As an external observer, I can't help noticing that an hour and a half ago, they only had A category for the Gala, and some minutes ago - A, B and C. . As a matter of fact, I'm interested in all events related to Figure Skating, but A is too high; and B - I'm not sure which are the advantages comparing to C.

[DaveRocks]

Tickets on CoSport go on sale in Canada and the USA in a little less than three hours -- fingers crossed!

somcutza: the advantage of B vs C is that B will be slightly closer to the ice. Both are in the upper bowl, so I'm not sure how much of a difference it will really make.

morqet: yes, the markup is frustrating, tough CoSport claims that they aren't marking up the ticket prices themselves (which they aren't allowed to do), but instead are charging a "handling" fee (which they are allowed to do). Bogus. 140 Euros is a ridiculous handling fee for a gala ticket!

[DaveRocks]

Because in the official site it says sth like , the person who owns/buys a ticket has to pick it up for himself plus the pass of the Games you have to apply for, without which you cannot enter even if you have a ticket. If everything has your name on, how would someone else pick it for you? Maybe I have understood wrongly?
The CoSport site sales sth like a 3days packet with 7000$ which is insane, for me and my friends at least. I cant figure out how I choose my own packet. Can I pm someone who has booked from this site already?

You have to literally pick up the ticket yourself if buying in Russia? That seems odd. They don't offer shipping? For all the countries that CoSport is handling, the person buying the tickets has to indicate the "number of distinct persons" the tickets are going to be used by, thereby allowing the possibility for someone else to use the tickets. Also, they claim that they will ship the tickets in early January 2014. Thus, you'll have the tickets in-hand. That said, I don't know if the Sochi site is handling sales in the same way.

Don't buy any of the packages from CoSport (they are a HUGE rip off). They are selling individual tickets starting today; while the tickets are still expensive, they end up being a fraction of the cost of the packages.

[somcutza]

SandraMGfan, thank you for the answer and for the hint; as a matter of fact, I called today at our NOC and I'm hoping to get tickets through them. Hopefully, their prices will be lower than those from CoSport. Did you remember (for London 2012) a significant difference between CoSport and NOC's prices? I think the last ones should be similar to those from the official site of Sochi... but this could be just wishful thinking. Because, as someone pointed out, the difference between a Gala Ticket on Sochi's website and a Gala Ticket through CoSport is kind... let's say, huge. With the difference I could buy a D tickat (of course, if D tickets will be available) at another event .

For London2012, I got tickets through the French National OC, through friends and family. I will give it a try again this time. But France still hasn't given the rights to a reseller so no tix until the fall.
I don't expect a high demand for Russian Olympics in France, so I'm quite hopeful I can get hockey tix, as it's not very popular in France!

[peibeck]

Those prices are ridiculous! I was talking with my best friend's in-laws over the Christmas holiday, and they saw the ladies free skate at the '76 Innsbruck Games and spent only like $10 US per ticket.

I don't care how much I like ANY skater, I would never pay those prices. It's complete and utter ROBBERY.

[ehdtkqorl123]

Those prices are ridiculous! I was talking with my best friend's in-laws over the Christmas holiday, and they saw the ladies free skate at the '76 Innsbruck Games and spent only like $10 US per ticket.

I don't care how much I like ANY skater, I would never pay those prices. It's complete and utter ROBBERY.

I think Olympic ticket prices will go higher and higher in the future.