Residents of the UK and "designated European countries"* can buy tickets direct from a central web site. Residents of all other countries (including the US) must get tickets through their own national associations.

* Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden and Switzerland.

Here's the web site with the rules.

Ireland and the UK are outside of the Schengen Zone, though.

Schengen Zone

The boxer from Azerbaijan fell down six times during the 3rd round. According to our rules, the Referee should have counted at least three times. In this case, following the AIBA Technical & Competition Rules, the decision should have been RSC (Referee Stop Contest); Therefore the protest lodged by the Japanese corner is accepted and the result of this bout overturned.

BBC Newsnight has uncovered evidence of secret payments of millions of dollars from Azerbaijan to international boxing organisation World Series Boxing (WSB).

Whistleblowers say that WSB's chief claimed the money was in return for a guarantee that Azerbaijani fighters would win two boxing gold medals at the London 2012 Olympics.

Other idea of sports thing I'd create if I was a billionaire and/or had a billionaire friend: A United States Game. Like the Olympics, only between state or regions or something like that. Some individual states have things like that. It'd feature most Olympic sports, as well as sports that aren't in the Olympics but which are popular in the USA. Would be a flip version of the Olympics year-wise: Summer US games in Winter Olympic years, Winter US games in Summer years.

(Plan to allow higher seeds to choose their elimination-round opponents)

Well, I see one obvious downside. How the hell do you determine who the #1 seed is. Sure it's easy in MLB or any other league, where the post-season follows a long regular season, but in the Olympics?

The French women's foil powerhouse (swept all thre individual medals) is currently battling their ancient rivals France in the team semis. I love Vezzali, and don't hate the women like I do the men, but GO FRANCE.

That British girl's vault routine where she fell on her face is going to be immortalized in sports blooper reels, poor girl.

The path to the Olympics is not cheap, something a New Zealander named Logan Campbell discovered upon returning home from his taekwondo loss four years ago in Beijing. He faced a mountain of bills from travel, equipment, and training, almost $120,000 worth in American currency, and he couldn't keep asking his parents to pay it.

London was going to cost him another $200,000. He needed money. He needed it fast.

So he opened a brothel

Not surprisingly, the brothel, and the publicity it stirred in Auckland when he announced his intentions in 2009, did not impress his country's sports federation. The people in charge of protecting the nation's sporting image did not see an athlete talking openly about the selling of flesh to fund his trip to the next Olympics as a reflection of their values. The fact brothels are legal in New Zealand, as long as a list of guidelines is met, didn't much impress the country's sports ministers.

The New Zealand Olympic Committee sent him a letter telling him to stop linking prostitution to funding an Olympics journey or they would sue.

But something remarkable happened. Money came for taekwondo. More money than the country's taekwondo team had ever received. No longer desperate for funds, Campbell sold the brothel in 2011. This spring, New Zealand put him on its London team.

Maybe because of this new peace, Campbell did not seem happy to be asked about his former business as he sat in the lobby of the East London school where he was training on Wednesday.

"I sold the brothel so I don't really want to talk about it now, OK," he said.

Yet as he said this, there also seemed a perception he wanted to eliminate. He senses that people think he was a sleazy pimp selling women on the street corner. This, he said, was not true.

"It's a legal business in New Zealand," Campbell said. "It's completely different from other countries in the world. There was no – I don't know – no one was forced into the industry, and they're not doing it because they are in poverty because we have a really good welfare system."

He stopped for a moment.

"It's more of like a higher-class thing than you see around the world. I think a lot of people don't understand that. As compared … to places like Thailand [where] I know what it's like in the poorer countries, where people don't have a choice to get into that sort of industry. But in New Zealand it's completely different, so it's fine."

Campbell said his parents didn't object to his running a brothel. Back in 2009, he told several New Zealand news outlets that his mother's worries were calmed after meeting several of the women who worked for her son.

"I've never had anyone in New Zealand be like, 'Why did you do that? That's not right,' or anything like that," he said.

Still, a brothel is a brothel. And this one, according to news reports at the time, had 14 rooms. Campbell was quoted as calling it "an escort agency." A website bearing his name was filled with pictures of Campbell in his taekwondo gear welcoming visitors to donate to his Olympics quest. "Or if you are in Auckland," he said on the site, "show your support by visiting the high-class escort agency I have just opened up."

The site promised "the finest range of intelligent ladies, the most luxurious facilities on the market" and told prospective clients to "fulfill your fantasy, bi-doubles, Greek, fantasy, dress, and much much more." First-time visitors became VIP members, a privilege that earned them "a number of free extras."

As Campbell walked from the school to a waiting bus on Wednesday, he seemed far less enthusiastic than he did back then. He said he never imagined owning a brothel and only got involved when a friend asked him to help operate a "private club" to "just sit there and make sure everything" was fine. His involvement grew when he realized how much he needed to raise.

"I came home after the Olympics, and I had no job and nothing to do," he said. "I needed to make some money if I wanted to go to the next one in London, so bam!"

Less than two years after opening the brothel with a business partner, he sold it, he said.

"I got no regrets, I wouldn't do it again," he said.

I believe that Phelps could, if he wanted to, stay around until Rio and have a good shot to at least medal (not necessarily gold) in at least some events. But he won't settle for something like that. He wants to go out on his own terms.

I believe that Phelps could, if he wanted to, stay around until Rio and have a good shot to at least medal (not necessarily gold) in at least some events.

I'm not sure why he doesn't do it unless he figures the money will roll in forever no matter what he does.

I think a book now and later media work and speaker's fees will earn him a nice living without needing to keep up with young ones, swimmers get old early.

I think a book now and later media work and speaker's fees will earn him a nice living without needing to keep up with young ones, swimmers get old early.

Is Phelps really as thick as he comes across in interviews? I understand that no athlete wants to say anything controversial on TV but my goodness, if he is really that dense someone is going to have to be responsible for signing his endorsement checks and making sure that he doesn't get lost on the way to whatever function is planned for that day.

Slamball should be an Olympic sport. Honestly, all media attention given to the NHL should be devoted to Slamball. But first, Slamball has to be revived as a sport that people actually play.

Can't believe China is still ahead of us in the Medal count (39-37). Luckily, we have Track & Field to fall back on or this would be close.

If I remember correctly, the only T&F event that China is expected to medal in is hurdles.