One used ticket to Olympics opening ceremony [File photo]

Don't throw away your old Olympic tickets – they could be worth thousands. When China met America at basketball on August 10, memorabilia collectors lined up to buy used tickets from spectators leaving the stadium. Many of the tickets will find their way into a growing online market in Olympic souvenirs.

According to Market News, an ordinary used ticket in track and field, football, basketball, diving, or gymnastics will fetch around 50 yuan (US$7.27) online, but tickets to popular fixtures such as the Sino-US basketball preliminary are going for around 300 yuan. A ticket to the Olympic opening ceremony might net its owner thousands of yuan. And high prices are not deterring buyers; On Internet bulletin boards offers to buy used tickets vastly outnumber offers to sell.

Xu Jian, president of the China Collection magazine, said it would be virtually impossible to assemble a complete Olympic ticket collection, and advised collectors to concentrate on particular sports, or on tickets that are likely to retain, or grow in value over time, such as tickets to the opening ceremony.

Cao Xuetao, owner of an online store at Tabao.com, said ticket owners are reluctant to part with their tickets at the moment because they hope prices will continue to rise. Collectors should be patient and bide their time. Olympic tickets are not a good bet for short-term speculation, but will work as a long-term investment and, quite apart from their monetary value, are interesting items in their own right.

(China.org.cn by Wu Jin, August 19, 2008)