Of the 314,000 ticket requests in the lottery among early applicants for tickets to the 1996 Olympic Summer Games in Atlanta, only two people received seats to both the opening and closing ceremonies.
One was a surgeon from Portland, Me. The other was Linda Derrick, a receptionist from Douglasville, Ga.
“The average, everyday person like me could never afford to go to the Olympics,” Derrick said. “But to think that it’s right here in our backyard, and we won’t have to worry about having to pay for accommodations and travel, it’s a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.”
When Olympic organizers mailed out notifications late last month, most of the early applicants discovered that they were not as lucky as Derrick: fewer than half received their preferred choices for events, said members of the Atlanta Committee for the Olympic Games.
Derrick said she received everything she asked for, including tickets to one of the most requested sports, men’s basketball. Even better, she lives only 40 miles from Atlanta, so she can commute to the Olympics rather than having to worry about paying for a hotel room from the opening ceremony on July 19, 1996, until the closing ceremony on Aug. 4.
Olympic officials in Atlanta said that about 87 percent of those who ordered tickets in the 60 days after May 1, the first day that orders were accepted, received at least one ticket to an Olympic event. Those who are due refunds can either request their money or apply their credit toward more tickets to sporting events or the Olympics arts festival.
Early surveys, said Scott Anderson, the Olympic ticket manager, indicate that more than 90 percent of people prefer ordering more tickets.
Those wishing to order tickets before the end of the year should mail a $5 check to Olympic Ticket Request Form, Post Office Box 105153, Atlanta, Ga. 30348-5153. The $5 will go toward the price of tickets; orders will be confirmed within three weeks. Beginning in February, tickets will be available by credit card. By May 1996, remaining tickets will be sold at 57 places around Atlanta.
Tickets for yachting, to be held off Savannah, go on sale separately in February. For yachting information, call 912-231-1996.
More than half the events are already sold out. Four million of the 11 million tickets originally available, including those for many of the most desirable events, were set aside for international Olympic officials and corporate sponsors. Another three million, most of which were sold through the initial public lottery, have been sold in the first offering to the general public.
As of Oct. 12, about four million tickets were available to preliminary events in track and field, archery, basketball, boxing, baseball, weight lifting, volleyball, beach volleyball, handball and canoeing-kayaking. Finals tickets were available in track, weight lifting, canoeing-kayaking and the dressage part of equestrian competition.
Those seeking tickets should carefully check which sessions are available. A brochure mailed in late September listed as available 36 sessions that were sold out. To check availability, and for general ticket information, call 404-744-1996.
Olympic officials said that one of the top bargains remaining is pre-Olympic training for men’s and women’s gymnastics at the cavernous Georgia Dome. The sessions will take place in the four days before the Summer Games open, and tickets range from $11 to $22.
Tickets also remain in Columbus, Ga.–100 miles from Atlanta–for women’s softball, where the United States, having won 105 of its last 106 international games, is the gold-medal favorite. Also available are preliminary rounds of soccer in Washington, Miami, Orlando and Birmingham, Ala.
Once tickets are confirmed, spectators will face the thornier problem of finding accommodations and transportation. As many as half of the expected two million Olympic visitors are expected to stay with family and friends.
That leaves a great number of people needing accommodations in and around Atlanta, where 80 percent of the 55,000 hotel rooms have already been reserved for Olympic officials from 197 nations, corporate sponsors and the news media, Atlanta Olympic officials have said. This means that thousands of spectators will have to commute from such places as Birmingham and Nashville.
Housing will be tight, but the Olympic Games Travel Network has been established to provide one-stop shopping for accommodations and travel within a 250-mile radius of Atlanta. Worldtravel Partners, an Atlanta-based travel agency, will manage the travel network and provide travel packages that require three-, six-and nine-night stays.
Each ticket holder is being mailed a brochure detailing various packages for air travel, housing, ground transportation and parking, which can be purchased together or separately, said Jerilyn Jones, vice president of marketing for Worldtravel Partners. Accommodation requests will be confirmed by Dec. 22. Through Nov. 10, travel packages are available strictly to Olympic ticket holders, and thereafter to all travelers.
The Olympic Travel Network has contracted for 5,000 rental cars, more than 100,000 airline tickets and about 1,000 buses to transport ticket holders from outlying cities such as Chattanooga, Tenn., and link Olympic sites in and around Atlanta.
The network has also contracted for 13,000 hotel rooms within a 250-mile radius of Atlanta, 7,500 homes and 2,500 apartments and condos, said Laurie Olsen, a spokeswoman for the Atlanta Olympic Organizing Committee. Ninety percent of the hotel rooms will go for $100 or less a night, said Jones.
Housing is being divided into four zones, based on the distance from Atlanta, and is priced accordingly. A one-bedroom apartment in Zone 1, the area extending 45 miles from downtown Atlanta, rents for $1,850 for six nights; a two-bedroom apartment rents for $3,300. A standard three-bedroom home rents for $2,700 for six nights, a three-bedroom deluxe home for $3,600.
Negotiations are being completed for a hospitality center in downtown Atlanta with lockers, phones, televisions, rest rooms, a travel center and a business center.
Travel requests can be made by sending a postcard to The 1996 Olympic Games Travel Network, Post Office Box 841983, Dallas, Texas 75284-1983; or by fax to 214-702-3744. For other questions, call 214-851-4010. Accommodations cannot be reserved through this number.
Ray Olsen, who publishes an Olympics newsletter called The Atlanta Advantage (216-562-4692), said travelers could stay in cabins in Georgia state parks (800-864-7275). The nearest cabins, 200 miles from Atlanta, rent for $40 to $95 a night.
Also available are campsites operated by the United States Army Corps of Engineers (404-945-9531) at Lake Lanier, the site of rowing events; 700 to 800 campsites are available. Reservations opened Oct. 16. Electricity and water hookups cost $15 a night; a tent site is $10 a night.
