Olympics’ spirit for sale at eBay

LONDON - Reuters

Loving the London Olympics but unable to be there in person or worried about feeling low when the Games end on Sunday?

For those with more money than sense, there is always a solution on the Internet.

Enterprising vendors, some offering a small percentage of any takings to charities, are seeking to cash in on the success of London 2012 by offering bottled ‘atmosphere’ on auction website eBay. “So you weren’t one of the lucky ones, unable to travel to London for whatever reason and soak up the exhilarating atmosphere,” says vendor mictoria.

“Well maybe a little bit of that ambiance can come to you.”

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 $16.42. Other vendors offering bottled Olympic air - one of them “collected at the entrance to the Olympic Park only days ago” - had yet to attract any bids, however. One put an optimistic starting price tag of 49.99 pounds on an empty plastic bottle that could be bought.