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For sale: Armenian bobsled
By Brady Snyder
Deseret News staff writer
Still looking for that one-of-a-kind, once-in-a-lifetime Olympic keepsake?
You may be in luck.
There's still plenty of stuff out there — everything from used tickets and now-outdated spectator guides to . . . the Armenian team's two-man bobsled?
Not to mention a very collectible — if battered — door.
(Add in the names of figure skaters Jamie Sale and David Pelletier and that door gains a certain cachet.)
More than any other Olympics, summer or winter, the 2002 Salt Lake Winter Games have attracted people to Internet auctions, says eBay spokesman Kevin Pursglove.
"The Olympic-related merchandise continues to be very popular," he said. "The bidding activity has been pretty consistent."
Used tickets go for about $9. The Armenian bobsled, used during the Games, is a little more pricey. The asking price on e-Bay: $50,000
That was apparently too steep. The contraption had no takers during the week it spent on eBay's online auction board.
Other knickknacks, however, are drawing significant interest, Pursglove said.
One item earning particular notoriety — 17 bids, with six days remaining in the auction — is a door that was broken down to recover Sale and Pelletier's competition skates. Turns out the door had been accidentally bolted inside just minutes before they were set to take the ice. They went on (after a bit of controversy) to receive gold medals. As of Friday, the highest bid for the broken door was $142.
How about a bobsled suit signed by the French team (going for $127)? Or for $103 you could enter bidding on a biathlon racing bib worn by member of the Polish team.
There is cheaper fare out there.
Sweatpants worn by a member of the Denmark's curling team during competition are going for $15.50. A sled hockey stick used in competition by a member of the Japanese squad is at $2.75.
Many such competition items are put up for auction by Olympic Aid (accessed via www.olympicaid.org, a group of athletes that develop sports programs in impoverished or war-torn countries. In total, Olympic Aid has raised nearly $250,000 from auctioning Salt Lake keepsakes donated by Salt Lake Olympians, said Nick Bruce, Olympic Aid spokesman.
"In terms of overall money raised, that's about the same as we raised in Sydney," host of the 2000 Sumer Games, Bruce said.
Among the more expensive items have been a snowboard signed by Americans Danny Kass, Ross Powers and J.J. Thomas, who swept the half-pipe competition. It went for $3,700.
A skate signed by gold-medalist Sarah Hughes went for $3,000. (Bronze-medalist Michelle Kwan's signed skate sold for half that.) A jersey signed by the men's Canadian hockey team — which won gold for the first time in 50 years — went for $4,000.
Uniforms worn by SLOC's volunteers are also hot, selling for upwards of $400. A coat donned by the trumpet-playing Olympic spirit band is selling for $315.
Bidders are being urged not to miss "a once in a lifetime chance to get Olympic rodeo ticket stubs for you Olympic memorabilia collection."
Even Olympic editions of the Deseret News are on the auction block. Bids start at $1 — twice the cover price.
Outrageous.
E-mail: bsnyder@desnews.com
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March 16, 2002
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