Chelsea Talley, left, a physical education teacher at Brussels Unit School in Brussels, and her wife Stephany Casillas, a secretary at the school, pose with their dog Cutty. Talley and Casillas are traveling to Lille, France, to watch the U.S. women's basketball team face Japan on July 29 in the Paris Olympics tournament. (Chelsea Talley)

The Olympics were nowhere near the forefront of Air Force Col. Eric Muller’s mind in March 2023.

Stationed at Scott Air Force Base in southwestern Illinois, Muller awaited his next assignment. Muller said he believed Washington, D.C., was in his family’s future.

Then came the assignment: Brussels as the NATO senior meteorology and oceanography officer. The Belgian capital lies just 307 kilometers — three hours and 42 minutes by car and about an hour and a half by train — northeast of Paris, host of the 2024 Summer Olympic Games.

So along with the usual PCS hustle and bustle, the Mullers put themselves into the Olympic ticket lottery.

“It happened quickly, and then we knew we were coming here for three years, ‘Well, hey, the Olympics are here next year; let’s go check them out,’ ” Muller said. “That’s when we bought the first set of soccer tickets in Marseille.”

U.S. Air Force Col. Eric Muller, front right; wife Erinn, front left; and their children, back row from left, Taegan, Tristen and Tarynn pose in a recent photo in northern Wales. The Mullers will be watching men's and women's soccer in Marseille, France, and beach volleyball in Paris during the Summer Olympics. (Eric Muller)

The Mullers — Eric, his wife Erinn; daughters Taegan, 15, and Tarynn, 4; and son Tristen, 12 — are five of the nearly 3 million visitors expected for the 2024 Paris Games, according to the International Olympic Committee.

More than a few Americans in Europe sought the chance to see the games in person.

Another group that won the lottery is the Arnold family. Jenny Arnold, a fifth-grade teacher at Brussels for 10 years, recalled growing up in Florida during the 1996 Atlanta Games and missing out on that.

Now, she will be going with her husband, Eric; daughter Lucia and son Alec Martinez; and stepsons Hunor and Nandor Arnold.

“It was something that I always wanted to do,” Jenny Arnold said. “I just never thought it would be somewhere where we could go. So, it’s exciting.”

Getting tickets proved difficult. Potential spectators needed to enter a lottery and when selected had to choose from whatever was available.

The Arnold family, from left, Eric, Hunor and Nandor Arnold, Alec Martinez and Lucia Martinex, and Jenny Arnold pose for a photo at Indianapolis Motor Speedway in Indianapolis. The Arnolds will catch two medal matches — volleyball and water polo — and canoe races on the last weekend of the Paris Olympics on Aug. 9-11. (Jenny Arnold)

And sometimes, the ticket site was confusing. Just ask Chelsea Talley, a physical education teacher at Brussels since July 2020 and an assistant coach for the Brigands girls basketball team last winter.

She and her wife, Stephany Casillas, a secretary at the school, secured tickets to the U.S. women’s basketball team’s opener July 29 vs. Japan at Pierre Mauroy Stadium in Lille, France. The couple were seeking only U.S. contests and tried to get a men’s basketball game in Lille, only an hour-and-a-half drive from Brussels, but they couldn’t tell if they were selecting the U.S-Serbia men or the Serbia-Puerto Rico women, both of which play July 28. So, they elected just to attend the U.S.-Japan women’s game.

Not that they are complaining. Talley said she has followed the WNBA since its inception and is a big fan of women’s college basketball.

“I think vs. Japan, it will be a fairly good game, but I feel like USA will win hands down,” Talley said. “They have such a dominant team.

“Women’s basketball today is a really popular sport now. I would love to see (five-time Olympic gold medalist) Diana Taurasi. She’s been playing forever. She’s probably one of my favorites since I was a little kid.”

For the Mullers, the choices were simply down to their children’s interests.

Eric Muller said his son Tristen is a big soccer fan, and with the U.S. and French men’s teams playing two matches in Marseille — against each other Wednesday, the U.S. against New Zealand on Saturday and France against New Zealand on July 30 — that was the big draw.

The men’s soccer tournament is an Under-23 competition and stars such as France’s Kylian Mbappe and American Christian Pulisic will not play.

In a happy coincidence, Muller’s daughter Taegan, who just finished her freshman year, joined the Brussels soccer team this spring, likely will enjoy watching the U.S. women’s soccer team taking on Germany on July 28 in a matchup of two powerhouses.

Taegan also was a member of the Brigand volleyball team that made a run to the DODEA European Division III title game this past fall. That pushed the Mullers to buy three tickets — Erinn and Tarynn will stay in Brussels — for the morning session of four beach volleyball matches on Aug. 1.

“We had soccer in the back of our minds and that’s kind of what we were focused on,” Eric Muller said. “Having the opportunity to go watch beach volleyball underneath the Eiffel Towel was something my oldest daughter really, really, really wanted to do.”

The Arnolds had another issue. Her children spend summers with their father, giving the family just the last weekend, Aug. 9-11, to see the Games.

Fortune shined on them. Along with canoe racing, the Arnolds got tickets to a volleyball bronze medal match for Lucia, a senior middle blocker on the Brussels team, and a water polo gold medal match for Hunor, who plays the sport.

“We had one weekend to play with, and it was the one weekend that both our kids’ sports are there and they happened to be medal matches,” Jenny Arnold said. “We’re very excited. We’re very lucky.”