E-mail updates
Follow on Twitter
Subscribe to RSS
Tal Cohen / EPA
Triple Olympic gold medal-winning sailor Ben Ainslie carries the flame as the first torchbearer of the torch relay around Britain on Saturday.
LONDON -- The sweatsuit comes off and the business hat goes on when it comes to many of those participating in the Olympic torch relay.
The historic ritual only started Saturday, but by Sunday there were already at least eight torches being auctioned on eBay with offers in excess of $170,000, although perhaps not all the bids were genuine.
One volunteer is yet to get hold of the torch but has already put his up for sale.
When the Olympics is your neighbor
At this rate we can expect plenty more. Eight thousand bearers are taking part in the relay as the flame travels 8,000 miles around Great Britain. Volunteers are allowed to keep their torch if they pay $340. This is where some have spotted the value – the torches cost $780 to produce, the Olympic organizers having paid the difference.
So what do you get for your money? The torches are made of aluminum alloy with a gold effect giving them that all-important shimmer.
Hand-welded, they have 8,000 holes. But, at 31 inches it’s a little long for some mantelpieces.
World's most expensive cable car might not be ready for Olympics
Andrew Bell was among those deciding to sell, according to the Sun on Sunday newspaper.
“I understand some people may find the idea of selling an Olympic torch offensive,” the 31-year-old from Cornwall, who was among the first carriers, told the paper.
“But we could genuinely use the money,” he added, according to the newspaper.
A spokeswoman for LOCOG, the Olympic organizing committee, seemed relaxed about the moneymaking scheme.
“They are the torchbearers’ property.” She told NBC News. “We just hope they go to a good home.”
So it seems the Olympics and commercialism go hand-in-hand.
More Olympics coverage:
- Will world's most expensive cable car be ready for Olympics?
- Now towering over London: 'The Godzilla of public art'
- Bad neighbors for Team USA? Occupy camp faces ax
- Brits revel in gloom ahead of Games, but don't believe the gripe
- Olympic housing crunch: Landlords evict tenants to gouge tourists
- At London Olympics, dogs have sniffed out key anti-terror role
- Slideshow: When the Olympics is your neighbor
- Go behind the scenes with our TODAY in London blog
More world news from msnbc.com and NBC News:
- Lockerbie bomber Megrahi dies in Libya
- Taliban, Afghan troops forge agreements as NATO prepares draw-down
- Blind activist Chen in US: 'Promote justice and fairness in China'
- Explosion at school in Italy kills 1, injures several more
- Sri Lanka holds parade to mark victory over Tamil separatists
- Japanese woman, 73, reaches Mount Everest summit
- Vancouver Island park’s 800-year-old tree falls to illegal loggers
Follow us on Twitter: @msnbc_world
Leave a Comment:
The Olympic Games is another opportunity for England to make a lot of money. They already had a bonanza with the royal wedding. I can not imagine what it would cost to pay for a room in a nice hotel there during the Olympic games.
They already are the most expensive hotels in the world. Make sure that you know this, before you get excited if you find real cheap flights to London during the Games. The hotel may cost you 3 or 4 times what you paid for the plane tickets.
The Olympics hold no intrest for many nowdays. I quit watching the summer Olympics events in 1992 and do not miss them at all. I might watch 3 or 4 events during the winter events.
It is also the Queen's 60th jubilee, so quite the year for the Royals in 2012. Lots going on between the Olympic Games and the anniversary celebration.
"So it seems the Olympics and commercialism go hand-in-hand."So it seems ....
The Olympics has been replaced by Professionals and Greed. The majority of people could care less about this anymore. Unless your a relative of a contestant or very rich there is absolutely no reason to spend thousands of dollars and give it to the greedy landlords and folks at this venture.
I crapped in a bag at the Vancouver winter Olympics if anyone wants to buy it ? E-mail me at bigbart at hotboxlunch dot com
Obviously the constantly maligned,French are the only ones with brains in this equation. How many more years do we need to get it right and what is this BS about training other nations armies and arming them to be used against us later ?? Do we ever observe history? I understand war profiteering, but it is only serving the 1% while it bleeds the 99%ers children and treasure. Even the militaristic red army knew when to end their Afghan fiasco. Again the will of the people want it to end now and congress wants to escalate.
Sorrry, DUde. You're in the wrong pavilion; this is about the olympics.
The Olympics hold no intrest for many nowdays. I quit watching the summer Olympics events in 1992 and do not miss them at all. I might watch 3 or 4 events during the winter events.
No so long ago, the fanfare of the Athens Olympics, today's Greece is the blink of bankruptcy. Ask the British working class what the Olympic is going to do for them.
Typo or an actual creative thought? "THE WORLD WONDERS".
I'm truly disgusted that the torch will pass through Belfast with all of their torturing and TWO YEAR imprisonment of an INNOCENT and perfectly legal family pet/therapy dog. Flush the Belfast City Council and SAVE LENNOX!!!
What is this about a dog being tortured. Lol haven't heard anything about that.
Frankly, my dear harlot - er'-Scarlet, I don't give a damn.
Just like kings and queens the Olympics should go away , grow up people.
What a horrible waste of resources.
Who can run or jump the fastest ? $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$
I carried the Olympic Torch in 2004. It was an honor. I had to pay my own transportation and lodging and buy the $480 torch but, it was a once in a lifetime honor. I have also had the privilege of being a therapist and official at the Olympics and Paralympics (both Summer & Winter Games) it is difficult to describe the atmosphere. Having worked closely with the athletes... THEY are the true spirit of the Olympics. The officials and politicians... that is another story. The Olympics does a lot for the common participant to learn about other counties and people. It does promote understanding.
In every Olympic venue there are people who will cheat to make a quick dollar. If you want to stop that, point them out and let the legal authorities and the media take care of them. Even if they ARE the government.