Tickets are divided into two Types -- I and II -- indicative of the popularity and demand of the event, and many ticketing arrangements require you to purchase at least one Type II for each Type I. Then tickets are priced by three categories, with Category A seats offering the best views, Category B offer moderately good viewing, while category C seats are further back form the action. Each day's events will be split up into two sessions, with the finals taking place mostly in the afternoon sessions.

Getting Tickets in Advance--Of the 5.3 million tickets available for the Olympics, 2.3 million were distributed by early 2003 to the international Olympic Committee, national Olympic Committees, sponsors, broadcasters, the Greek government, and Athens 2004 Organizing Committee officials. Some of these may show up for sale to the public in various countries but most will be given or sold to selected few. That left 3 million tickets to be sold to the general public, and Greeks were given the first crack at these between May 12 to June 12, 2003. People in countries belonging to the European Union and European Economic Area were able to start applying at the same time by calling a number in Athens -- 210/373-000 or via the internet: www.athens2004.com/tickets. All these tickets will presumably have long been sold by the time you read this.

All other peoples of the world must seek tickets through the procedures and outlets established by their respective national Olympic committees. For a list of the various national Olympic Committees and links to their website, go to www.olympic.org/uk/organisation/noc/index_uk.asp.

In the United States, Cartan Tours is the Official Ticket Agent for the exclusive sale of tickets to the general public. To request information, call 1-800-360-2004 or visit the website www.cartan.com. Cartan's home office is 1334 Parkview Avenue, Manhattan Beach, CA 90266 (sales@cartan.com).

Here are the official agents for Olympics tickets in the following countries:

Australia: Sportsworld PLC, 73 Walker Street, North Sydney, NSW 2060 (tel. 02-9492/9100; fax 02-9518/5224; www.sportsworlddsm.com/au/bookingconditions.htm)

Canada: CoSport, (tel. 877-457-4647; fax 908-766-2033; www.cosport.com).

New Zealand: Sportsworld International. 155 The Strand, Parnell, Auckland. (tel. 0011-649/307-0770; fax 0011/649/309-6191; www.sportsworld-athens2004.com).

United Kingdom: Sportsworld Travel, New Abbey Court, Stert Street, Abingdon, Oxfordshire OX14 3JZ (tel. 01235/554-844; fax 01235/554-8441; www.sportsworld-athens2004.com).

It should be noted that people outside Greece will most likely have to buy a "package" that includes travel arrangements and accommodation as well as tickets. CoSport, one of the official sponsors of the 2004 U.S. Olympic Team and Athens 2004 Games, offers such packages. They can be contacted by calling toll free 877/457-4647 or by going into their website, www.cosport.com. Cartan Tours, mentioned above as a source for tickets, can also arrange for package tours.

Although these packages may be fairly reasonable, if you have your heart set on seeing particular events -- especially the finals -- you must check carefully to see what tickets are included in your package deal. You might decide to try to buy your tickets independently -- not that easy to do at this late date but if you succeed, then you must decide how to make your travel and accommodation arrangements separately. And if you do reserve accommodations on your own, be sure to get written confirmation of your reservation and the quoted room rates.

Ticket Prices--Ninety percent of all tickets for the Games will cost US$35 or less, with many costing as little as US$14 per session. For example, for US$14 you can see qualification rounds of such sports as soccer, volleyball, baseball, and softball. Tickets for the qualification rounds of such events as track and field or swimming are more in demand but if you don't mind sitting in the back rows, you can get these for as little as US$42.

When it comes to the final events, ticket prices rise dramatically, with ringside seats for the track and field events costing as much as $410. And for a ticket to the Opening Ceremony, the best seats cost US$1,700, the cheapest US$468; the Closing Ceremony is somewhat cheaper -- US$936 for the best, US$140 for the cheapest.

Getting Tickets at the Last Minute--Although you will read that there is no guarantee that tickets will be available just before or during the Games, the fact is that not all events of the Olympics sell out, For every session, it's likely that at least some tickets will be on sale at the door or from scalpers. This is especially true for such low-demand events as baseball (remember, this is in Europe!), handball, wrestling, judo, taekwando, rowing, and kayaking. In the 1996 Olympics Games in Barcelona, Spain, a country with almost four times the population of Greece, some 1.76 million tickets were reserved for the Spanish, and they weren't close to selling out. Meanwhile, hundreds of thousands of tickets are sold in advance to the sponsors and national Olympic committees of the 200 countries that send athletes to the Games. These groups are forced to buy packages that include the most popular events as well as the less popular ones. This means that the sponsors and national committees usually arrive at the Olympics with many tickets they couldn't unload. They will most likely sell these tickets to ticket brokers in Athens, who will then sell them at the best prices they can get. Even tickets to premium events may sell at the last minute for less than the face value.

To sum up: If you are intent on seeing only some particular event, you had better buy your ticket well in advance -- and be prepared to pay a premium price and a package deal. But if all you want is to be able to say you saw some Olympic events in the land of their origin, you may be able to buy some tickets on the scene.