High demand events

As accredited members of the media at the Olympics, our accreditation gets us in to almost all of the venues and events. This year, with COVID a major factor in things, the amount of space at each venue for media has been reduced, so we have to request access to the venue in advance.

I have made all my requests for the time I am here and so far I have not had a single request denied, which I must say was kind of surprising. The fact that the stadiums have no fans has probably made things easier for us, since they have seemingly expanded the press tribune area to include more regular seats as needed.

However, there are also events that are called "high demand events." This list includes all gymnastics medal events, all evening sessions for track and field, all medal sessions for swimming, tennis quarterfinals, semifinals and finals, men's basketball final, the handball semis and finals and the opening and closing ceremonies. In the Winter Olympics that I've been to, figure skating was the main high demand event.

However, over the course of the first two Olympics, I have only made a request for one high demand event and that was the opening ceremonies in PyeongChang. I did receive permission, but once I spoke to the USOPC (media apply for these tickets through the National Organizing Committee of their home country), realized I would not make it there in time and cancelled my ticket.

This year, I really wanted to see some gymnastics action, in particular, I thought it would be great to see Simone Biles compete. The session that worked best for the schedule I put together was this coming Monday night when the women compete in the floor exercise and the men compete in vault and in rings.

So, I made my request through the USOPC and surprisingly, I was granted a ticket for the gymnastics event on Monday. I picked up my ticket at the USOPC office in the media center yesterday and will have to present that, along with my accreditation, when I get to the Ariake Gymnastics Center tomorrow afternoon.

Of course, my hope of seeing Simone Biles will not happen, as it was announced today that she would not be competing in the floor exercise. That is disappointing on my end, but obviously her well-being is more important than my disappointment. I did get to see one GOAT in my time here (Ledecky) and that in and of itself is a win.

My ticket to the gymnastics arena on Monday.