What Would You Do for an Olympics Ticket?

BEIJING, July 25, 2008 — -- The aggressive crowds, thick pollution, and 90-degree heat didn't stop tens of thousands of Chinese from pitching makeshift tents and lining up throughout the city Thursday for the last chance to score tickets to next month's Olympics in Beijing.

Tickets went on sale today at 9 a.m. local time. A few at the front of the line said they headed straight for the ticket office as soon word got out on Wednesday.

Standing in the midst of thousands of ticket-hungry people this morning, the scene felt both orderly and chaotic.

Flocks of volunteers lined the streets of the Olympic Sports Center, as people flooded the grounds with visions of Olympic glory, or at least tickets, dancing in their heads.

Citizens and police peacefully chatted and sweated the hours away. Bottled water was distributed to crowds in lines over 20 people deep and more than a kilometer long.

The crowd was as diverse as it was thick. A married couple from Anhui lined up next to a student waiting to get her grandmother a ticket. Fans traveled from as far as southern Fujian Province (across the strait from Taiwan) and as near as Beijing to try their luck in the last of four ticketing phases.

Many families anticipated the long wait, packing picnic lunches, books and iPods. One family from neighboring Hebei Province sprawled out on bamboo mats near the end of the line. The father, parked beneath an umbrella, said they had been waiting for more than two hours and hadn't moved a centimeter.

"There are too many people here, but we were just told we'll definitely get some tickets. So we're staying," he told ABCNews.com. He and the others camped out nearby all said they were looking for tickets for the same sport: Diving. China is considered to have one of the best diving teams in the world.

A Beijing college student said, "Guo Jingjing [China's top female diver] is China's pride."

"Seeing her dive would be a dream come true, especially in that strange-looking building," she said, referring to the unique bubble-like addition to Beijing's urban landscape.

As the morning dragged on, the crowds grew restless. As loudspeakers blared with updates on ticket availability and safety reminders, anxious fans pushed and shoved forward. In some lines, ticket hopefuls were agitating in the wrong direction, unable to see which way was forward.

Rachel Wasser, an American working in Beijing, camped out in the Olympic Sports Center in a brave attempt to score tickets to table tennis next month.

"I got [here] around nine last night. It was very interesting, very tiring, very Chinese," she said.

Wasser, who has studied and lived in mainland China for about two years, described seeing shameless attempts to cut in line and explosive surges of people trying to move ahead.

"[People] were cutting so much that I was worried that I would wait all night and not get tickets at all," Wasser told ABCNews.com.

Authorities are also going after scalpers. The Beijing News said 44 had been detained, including one who had been selling 50 yuan ($7.30) tickets for a basketball match for 5,000 yuan ($732.20).

After being packed like a sardine and nearly trampled throughout a sleepless night, Wasser arrived at the ticket counter at 11:30 this morning, more than fourteen hours after she stepped in line.

Wasser's long wait was well worth it. She emerged victorious with a pair of women's semi-final table tennis tickets. The Chinese always field a strong pingpong team, and it is one of the most sought after events in Beijing.

Relieved and exhausted, Wasser was happy to finally have tickets in hand.

"I waited like everyone else," she said.

Reuters contributed to the reporting of this story.