This really typifies Olympic spirit and sportsmanship… NOT!

A profiteering scam by Chinese spectators seems to be unfolding at Beijing’s Paralympic Games.

Last night, 10 of us headed to the Village Green to support Australia in the Wheelchair Basketball, against the US. We arrived near the end of the game between China and Brazil, and stood in the wings, along with a myriad other Australian fans, waiting until the game was over.

The first two tiers of seats were jammed with Chinese spectators cheering their team enthusiastically. It was a wonderful sight. We even cheered along.

As we waited, the lovely Chinese volunteers assured us the seats would clear the moment the Chinese team finished playing, so we decided to hang out for these front row seats, rather than go to tier 3 where there were plenty of seats. We were SO excited to have seats close to the action.

Once the Game between China and Brazil ended, the Chinese spectators stood up, ready to leave. We readied ourselves to move in. But when the Chinese stood up, turned around and saw us, all dressed up in Aussie gear (thus clearly identifiable), their eyes lit up and they promptly sat down again. Maybe two Chinese spectators got up and left. Two. The rest looked around at us and planted their butts back firmly down. Kindly, another few spectators left and Australians quickly filled the spaces, but clearly – no other seats were on offer.

One large group of Chinese, dressed in yellow t-shirts and led by a woman in a red devil headdress (appropriately) all stood up to leave, gathering their bags, etc. But when the Devil woman turned to see us all waiting their for seats, her face lit up greedily and she quickly whispered to her team to sit down, fill the seats, quickly. They all did what they were told, then turned and looked at us with both defiance and expectation.

Nearby, an Australian girl (and clearly a relation or friend to the Australian Rollers team) began a relentless campaign to garner seats for their large Aussie spectator group – all dressed up and clearly SO excited to be there. The Chinese were so determined not to budge – and despite endless joking, kindness, warmth and banter from this girl – it took her 45 minutes to move even a dozen people.

So, at this point, our small, Mandarin-speaking group got involved.

We kindly told them we were all Aussies, we would love to sit together, many of the larger group were related to or knew the Australian basketball team, they had travelled all the way from Australia, they would love to be close to the action, to get great photos of their friends and relatives playing. We kindly said the Chinese had already seen their team play – there were plenty of seats available to sit from tier three upwards – would they kindly shift their seats and watch the game from another angle so that us Australians could enjoy our own home team up close and personal, together as a group? Good Lord, we even started begging!

Don’t get me wrong, I know that anyone who has a General Admission seat at the Games does not have to move and has every right to sit in that seat the whole day long if they want to. But what isn’t right – is when people refuse to budge for the wrong reasons. These people clearly had no desire to sit in these seats. They had no intention of cheering on the Aus v US team. So why did they refuse to move?

To my horror, I soon found out why.

You see, they began demanding something to move. At first, it was intimations that they should be “compensated” (for what? being kind? for going home, when they were clearly going to get up and go home anyway?) and then it was blatant demands that unless we “gave them something” (cash? what?) they would not be going anywhere.

So, the girl leading the large Australian group, out of sheer desperation, began handing out Olympic pins. Although kind of her, it was a death knell to our goal for seating, and like a dinner bell to those greedy spectators, who launched into a feeding frenzy for those pins. Many people who got their “payment” left immediately but some took the pins and still refused to move, or wanted more in the way of payment.

All this awful drama for a measly pin? You’ve got to be kidding me.

I didn’t have any pins to give these people but, despite my kind requests, I was blatantly asked for goods in exchange for the seat. Gob-smacked and really ashamed of these actions, I told several spectators that in Australia, if the situation were reversed, we would gladly, out of the goodness of our hearts, give up our seats – and most certainly NEVER in a million years ask for any kind of payment or compensation. I told them I was horrified they would ask for payment and that it set a terrible example to their fellow countrymen.

They didn’t even bat an eyelid at this comment.

Once the Game got underway and those greedy, shameful spectators realised they were not going to get anything for their seats, they, of course – got up and left.

Absolutely appalling.

I am not sure why the Paralympics has been relegated to General Admission, but this is a warning to all that you may face a scam for seats at these Games. The Paralympic tickets are cheaper and the seats have been so clearly oversold – the venues are surprisingly packed and I’m sure officials didn’t bank on this. It’s leaving many standing, unable to be seated – and, alas – it’s opening up a gold-lined avenue for crooks.

It would be wise to get to your event very early lest you find yourself standing in the corridors outside the venue – or worse – facing having to bargain your way into a seat you have already paid for.

This kind of scam is clearly the antithesis of Sportsmanship.

I’m just glad we didn’t take our kids last night to see this shameful debacle and I beseech everyone – Chinese spectators or foreign – do not give in to these atrocious scammers and create an even bigger monster out of this. It has the potential to ruin these games.

Tania McCartney

Footnote: Once these scammers left, several Chinese spectators who actually wanted to see Australia play the US, came to sit in our vicinity. They were fun, enthusiastic and gorgeous Chinese sports lovers who even waved our flags, cheered and had photos taken with us. If only they knew what their fellow countrymen had been up to moments before, I am sure they would have been horrified. We have always cheered on China when Australia hasn’t been playing, and it really warmed my heart to know that most Chinese spectators do the same for us.

Footnote II: Once we secured our seats, we experienced the most incredible game I’ve seen at the Olympics and Paralympics combined. Thankfully, the joy of it wiped out this awful experience and didn’t ruin the game.