Some people will be going home with a gold medal, some silver, others bronze, others only memories. Even the spectators will have their own special memories and souvenirs of the London 2012 Games.
But for those who didn’t make it to any of the events, how about some bottled Olympic air? Or, perhaps, a bit of tissue used to wipe one of the seats at the Opening Ceremony?
Some enterprising eBay users are offering some slightly dubious items for sale on the auction website. “So you weren’t one of the lucky ones, unable to travel to London for whatever reason and soak up the exhilarating atmosphere. Well, maybe a little bit of that ambiance can come to you,” wrote one vendor using the pseudonym “mictoria”.
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Soak it in: The crowds at London 2012 have been some of the loudest and most passionate in Olympic history... and now some eBay sellers have tried to cash in. Pic/Getty Images
Bids were open until Sunday, “when the atmosphere goes back to normal”, with three would-be purchasers of the novelty item registering an interest with the highest at £10.50 (Rs 905).
Other vendors offering bottled Olympic air — one of them claiming to have been “collected at the entrance to the Olympic Park only days ago” – has yet to attract any bids, though. One put an optimistic starting price tag of £49.99 (Rs 4,311) on an empty plastic water bottle that could be bought immediately for £99.99 (Rs 8,624)otherwise.
There was also a crumpled tissue on offer. “This was the tissue I used at the 2012 Opening Ceremony to wipe the seat with, it has some of the molecules of the Olympic atmosphere attached to it and I shall be sealing it in a plastic wallet so you can show it to your grandchildren and so on,” declared “captainjay1701”. Bidders had yet to show any interest.u00a0The auctions are, in a sense, following a precedent set by the Games organisers themselves, who are selling off various items used during the Olympics.u00a0
The Mary Poppins costume used during the Opening Ceremony has attracted a high bid of £255 (Rs 22,000) with two days to go in the auction. u00a0The auction on a Hockey ball used in men’s gold medal game has a similar period to run and has attracted a bid of £335 (Rs 28,894), whereas the netting used in the men’s gold medal basketball game is set to go for at least £1,805u00a0(Rs 1.55 lakh).u00a0
Rs 4,311 The starting bid for an empty plastic bottle that has the atmosphere of the Olympics
Rs 22,00 The bid for the Merry Poppins costume that was used during the Opening Ceremony
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