“Obviously it has really upset people but I think that it’s not something that is really me to keep my shiny trophy on a mantelpiece when it is obvious how much good one can do with the money that someone might be willing to pay for it,” she told the Daily Telegraph, mentioning that she’s also received abusive emails from people. But here’s where the story takes an interesting twist: it’s believed that she’s using the money for charity with the funds going toward a community allotment. The most high-profile sale is arguably by Sarah Milner Simonds, from Burnham-on-Sea in Somerset, who reportedly made $242,000. Many runners will hold on to their torches, as a memento of a truly special day. Each and every runner taking part in the 70-day relay was offered to purchase the torch that they carried at the discounted cost of $314, rising to $339 if purchased on the day. Consider: 8,000 runners traveling some 8,000 miles across the U.K. (MORE: The Duel in the Pool: Meet Ryan Lochte, the Man Who Beat Michael Phelps (and Wants to Again))īut when you look at the numbers involved, commercialism is inevitable. It’s been reported that as many as six torches have already sold for over $150,000 on eBay, although it’s unknown whether the transactions were genuine or a hoax. So far, so symbolic, right? But stories are emerging from Britain that, ahead of the London Olympics, some entrepreneurial torch bearers are trying to cash in on their prestigious role by selling their own torch for as much as possible to the highest bidder. The flame travels the length and breadth of the land, with each torch “kissing” the next one along the relay route, before coming to its resting place at the opening ceremony when the last of the many thousands of torch bearers lights a cauldron inside the Olympic Stadium. From there, it travels across the country that gave birth to the modern Olympiad before being brought over to the nation hosting the Olympic Games.
– London 1908 Olympics Gold winner’s medal (below) sold for $33,275.Follow isn’t a sucker for the story of the Olympic Flame? The journey begins when it’s lit at the Temple of Hera in Olympia, Greece, all thanks to the power of the sun. – Oslo 1952 Winter Olympics Torch sold for $55,000. “It’s a magnificent, museum-quality piece of Olympic history,” said Bobby Livingston, Executive VP at RR Auction.Īdditional highlights from the sale include: 12 by Mexican Olympian Enriqueta Basilio, who became the first woman to ever light the Olympic cauldron, after a historic 13,546-kilometer route that featured the support of an astounding 2,778 torchbearers. The flame was carried into the Estadio Olímpico Universitario on Oct. 6, the torch and its defect issues had been resolved. In an attempt to protect future torchbearers, as well as to prevent further bad publicity, a safer, simpler torch was developed by the Spanish Olympic Committee-the Type 6, a torch that was made exclusively for use during certain portions of the relay in Spain.īy the time the torch made landfall on Mexican soil on Oct. Both men received minor injuries, the torch relay continued shortly thereafter, and the cause of the detonation was attributed to the fuel volatility and the “too-rapid contact of a lighted torch with an unlighted one.” At the moment of transfer, Rojo’s torch exploded. 1, 1968, Mariana Valls, son of the president of the Barcelona Athletics Federation, met Olympian Gregorio Rojo to pass the Olympic flame from one torch to another.
The discovery of the “Type 6” Olympic torch (above) occurred nearly 50 years after the 1968 Summer Games when Olympic researchers used photographic evidence to certify its existence and very necessary creation.Īside from its distinction as being the first Spanish-speaking Olympiad, the Mexico City Games hold the honor of having the most styles of relay torches a record obtained not for the sake of one-upmanship, but rather due to the faulty design of the original torch.
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RR Auction imageīOSTON – A rare official 1968 Mexico City Olympics torch sold for $41,786 at an RR Auction sale that closed July 23. A rare official 1968 Mexico City Olympics torch sold for $41,786.
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