They’re camping overnight to score Olympics tickets

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More than 10,000 people are camping out tonight at Beijing’s new ‘Water Cube’ swim venue in order to be near the front of the line when the last 820,000 Olympics tickets go on sale Friday morning. Tickets will be sold for swimming, diving, basketball and baseball.

The first in line, the Associated Press reports, was Xu Yongheng, a 25-year-old who arrived at noon on Wednesday. He failed to get tickets during the three previous rounds of domestic sales, but told AP that being first in line was like “striking the top prize in the lottery.”

“I brought my mat, my full gear for the wait, rain or shine, I am prepared,” said Xu, who works in logistics. “It’s the Olympics, the first for China, and it’s worth it.”

About 75% of the seven million tickets being sold for the Beijing Games are going to Chinese fans, who’ve left no ticket unsold during the previous sales rounds.

The ticket sale will continue into Saturday, when a limited number of track and field tickets will be made available. Face value of tickets to athletic contests run from 30 yuan ($4.40) to 1,000 yuan ($146).