Today’s the day the massive publicity around the Olympics really kicks off, with the Olympic flame arriving to start it’s 8,000 runner jaunt around the UK. Each runner gets the chance to purchase their Torch (once the gas canister is removed and the burner assembly deactivated), although if were selected as a runner by Coca-Cola they’ll kindly pay for your Torch for you. If you’re one of the runners selected by LOCOG then they’ll want you to cough up a couple of hundred quid if you want to keep your torch, but don’t try to pay by Mastercard – it’s Visa only for Olympic events.
Of course the chances are high that with around 100 Torches a day being used in the 70 day relay around the country that a few of the torches will pop up on eBay. I doubt Ben Ainslie who’s running the first leg from Lands End will flog his, but a few of the other 7,999 runners almost certainly will.
There are a couple of Olympic Torches for sale on eBay from previous games, and the prices start at around £1500, so if you are a runner and don’t particularly want to keep your Torch it’ll probably prove to be a great investment. The earliest runners are probably best positioned to get the best price for their Torch as by the time runners later in the 70 day relay get theirs they won’t be quite as rare.
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Our local paper published an article about the Torch Procession. Apparently those who turn up to watch it pass will be very lucky if they actually see the Torch. There are numerous vehicles representing the various Sponsors and of course the Police and Organisers with the Torch Carrier plus a few other odd bods somethere in the middle.
The whole of the Games seems to be aimed at the Sponsors and VIP’s rather than the real Sports Fans. So I for one will stay at home and watch those bits I want to on the TV.
sick of the olympics already and thats before we make a total arse of it
8000 Torches??
Hardly a relay then is it?
Or are they going to give the 400m relay runners a baton each??
They forgot to mention in the news that each of the 8000 runners will only run about 300 meters. That’s about 2,400km out of the total journey of 12,000km.
The rest of the time, i.e. most of the time, there will be no torches, just a couple of vans running from one location to the next and nothing to see.
The whole thing is a farce!
First day of Relay and a torch is on sale for £153,800.00 Looks like some people are trying to wreck the sale or they are requiring assessment concerning their mental health
Everything the previous contributors have written is absolutely right. May I just add my two-pennyworth? My whole family and I wholeheartedly agree with the aims of MOST (Majority Opposed to Sport on the Television). Do you think we might be able to obtain even a small refund on our television licence, due to the forthcoming wall-to-wall coverage of one of the most tedious and over-hyped events in the sporting calendar from which we ever suffer?
At the end of the Olympics the various assorted buildings that have been built. Stadiums, etc even the Athletes Village are supposed to have a long term use.
Has anybody noticed the Athletes Village. Apparently the thousands of flats etc are being built with no kitchens(each Flat will be mostly bedrooms). The idea is that the Athletes will eat in communal Cafe’s. Then after the Olympics the Flats will be ripped apart to put kitchens into them. Apparently this is going to cost hundreds of millions of pounds.
So it is obviously beyond the intelligence of man to design the Flats with Kitchens and put in all the connections except that the actual sinks, cupboards etc are not actually installed and the plumbing and electrics are all blanked off. So that after the games they can go in and install the sinks and cupboards and un-blank off the plumbing and electrics.
Guess who is going to pay for all this mess? Thats right you and me through our Taxes. So instead of our Tax monies going to pay for New Schools and Hospitals. Instead of our Taxes going to pay for half decent care for the elderly its going to pay for the glorious cock-up of the Olympic Games.
Yet there are some within the Sporting World who are claiming that the Games are going to make a massive Profit and they have even been arguing about how much of this “Profit” their organisation should receive. My estimate is that at the end The Loss is going to be several Billions of Pounds.
bet her nibs and phil are laughing their crowns off takes the pressure of them this year
There is a suggestion that arises every so often and I must admit that it is one that I fully agree with. Its called the Olympic Games because the Ancient Greeks built the Stadium and held the games on Mount Olympus. So instead of littering the Globe with Olympic Stadiums(many of which are White Elephants that apart from the Games they were built for have done little since). We return the Olympics to Greece.
An Olympic Complex(perhaps including some of the facilities that were built for the Athens Olympics of a few years ago(suitably refurbished) could be developed and every 4 years(or if there was a fixed home in an Olympic Complex in Greece why not use the facilities for such as World Championships etc as well every year.
Then rather than building New each Olympics there would just be the need to repaint and refurbish and the games are ready to go(the only new build each time would be if they required facilities for New Sports to be included).
Also World Class Transport Systems(I am staying well clear of London during the Games as I am expecting Traffic Meltdown). World Class Hotels and of course a Major Athletes Village built to do the job(including Kitchens in case the Athletes want to cook or prepare their own meals)
It would save the Taxpayers of the UK and other Countries having to spend their hard earned monies on building massive facilities for a few short weeks of Sports and then having the long job of trying to find a meaningful future for the facilities or like so many cities around the World just watching their massively expensive facilities rot. The UK Olympics final bill will be perhaps £15Billion(we will never really know as I would expect that as it gets more and more over budget expences are hidden in other Budgets either for London or perhaps Governmental Budgets).
The Olympics:- School Sports day for grown ups!
its about money and politics the sports is only part of it
Someone’s making lots;
https://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=330735828718&fromMakeTrack=true&ssPageName=VIP:watchlink:top:en#ht_500wt_1202
If we have so many torches why do they wait for one stretch of the journey to be complete before starting the next.
Just run the entire thing simultaneously and spare us all the “yeah, it’s the olympics!” insincerity we all have at the moment.