The torches are already appearing on eBay

i heard the torch bearers paid to keep them so they can technically do as they please, but personally im against them being sold.surely its something to treasure and pass down through your family??

I'd rather have the 90 grand that one is currently going for !

Gotta be a fake bid surely? What are they made from?



I was lucky enough to see the olympic torch when I was on holiday in Thassos just before the 2004 Athens games, there was a local athlete from the island competing in them so they let him carry it, was literally close enough to touch it.



EDIT: just read this "Olympic torchbearers can buy their torch for £215 (they cost London 2012 £495) and are free to sell"

Was looking at ebay earlier this morning and PICTURES of a torch were going for hundreds of pounds, although you didn't know it was a pic until you read the small print. I see the seller has now put it in big red letters that it is a picture that is being sold.

Since the Olympics is, in a large part, about big business cashing in, then it seems entirely fitting.

Its not really an "investement" though is it ?

I can understand someone wanting one as a memento but I suspect that many of those bidding are doing so in the hope that they will be worth a lot more in a short number of years - they may need reminding that the Olympic torch that they are buying is potentially one of 8000 - hardly a limited edition.

Sssssshhhhhhh

I've spent half the night banging 'em out in me shed, I just need to nip down Halfords now for some gold spray paint.

There was a photo of the torch going for 10 grand when I looked last night, get your camera out aswell.

Dunno about that, me camera's an Olympus E1 and given the way LOCOG's lawyers have been shooting from the hip, I daren't risk falling foul of them.

The torches were a doddle though, a bit of perforated zinc plate and the guts from an old Camping Gaz stove, Job's a good 'un

[url=http://www.private-eye.co.uk/sections.php?section_link=in_the_back&issue=1314Get knitted[/url

Olympics and various sports World Cups, are just a way of increasing Coca Cola, McDonalds, Burger King, Visa etc etc profiles, i'm sure elite athletes could just meet up on a park somewhere and save us billions to spend on hospitals and medicines

Everything that's wrong with the Games in one story.

"London Organising Committee of the Olympic Games (Locog) told the project organisers the stall wasn’t going to be possible, with “commercial sponsors” cited as the reason."


That is the most sickening part of that story.

Some head of some corporate giant got wind of some locals making cushions and actually thought, no i'm not having that, put a stop to it.

This planet, us humans, i despair.

I doubt very much it will have come from any sponsor, it will be the legal/licencing team from LOCOG, or from the delivery group.

The Olympics is the single biggest brand exercise ever, of course Beryl and Betty weren't going to be able to give away a few cushions, they were pretty daft to believe they would be. I spent many an hour at venue's covering branded items with tape so the logo wouldn't make it onto the TV/press coverage. Are people really this naieve, it's not right, but it's the way it goes.

Anyway you look at it though, it's pathetic.

it's not pathetic, it's just how it works, without the huge corporations these events wouldn't happen.

If they can't include everyone, then maybe no bad thing, it's becoming on big advert for the businesses rather than sport.

Some people actually think that the government are footing the bill for everything and completely forget about the revenue streams the Olympics brings (and needs).

Since Montreal in 1976, every Summer Olympics has made a profit (except for maybe Beijing, although we'll never kno either way).

It really grinds my gears hearing people and journalists whinge about how much the Olympics is costing, without even sparing a thought for what's coming the other way.

but that's the rub, it's far too easy to hate big business (for the sake of it) and lamping them for everything they do, people bemoan McDonalds but never mention the millions of pounds they invest with the FA (UK alone), people hate TESCO despite them employing tens of thousands of people. It always makes me laugh when some peope on here lambast business, the very business that they rely on for their pension.

Capitalism works, communism doesn't.

But people can't complain about the irony of purveyors of fast food products sponsoring major sports events? This is their attempt to detoxify their brand the same way tobacco brands and drink brands tried before them, if you can't see that then you are not looking.

London 2012 had no say in these headline sponsors, doesn't make it right though.



No people hate Tesco because of their employment practices, the way the treat suppliers and there constant mendacious price fiddling.



Remind me, what state is world finance in at the moment?

And even though they are a multi billion pound business they still participated in this governments work programme expecting JSA claimants to work for free, not giving them an interview at the end of the placement and then onto the next round of JSA claimants. Lets not forget that fiasco.

So, as a London taxpayer, precisely what bang am I getting for my buck?

And no: increased profits for already massively profitably corporations doesn't count. [url=http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/were-being-denied-olympic-gold-rush-say-small-firms-7769686.htmlSmall businesses are missing out or set to[/url.

See Graeme's question.

All our taxes are contributing to the games, not just those living in London. Unless you're paying vastly increased council tax?

And as a Londoner, you're left with an Olympic Park / Stadium and a much improved transport infrastructure. That's just two things, there are plenty other benefits to Londoners that the people in the rest of the UK won't have.



My post wasn't referring to the profits of any sponsors or any other third parties, but profits made from hosting the games itself.

As I understand it, McDonald's are the sole vendors of food (I use the term loosely) to the games audiences.
Credit card payments can only be made via Visa.
Only Coca Cola will be allowed to sell drinks within 100m of the Olympic Park.

And, wait for it, there's actually an Olympic-branded [size=150Monopoly[/size Board Game out now.
The irony is stunning.

Capitalism works but it needs keeping in check.

Your comment about Tesco and pensions is so vacuous I don't know why I am bothering to reply to it ... but quite honestly, when a firm shifts its profits around to avoid tax as much as Tesco does, which section of society gets its pension boosted?
Not many of those on the checkouts or stacking shelves at any rate.