体坛英语新闻：Olympic memorabilia goes under hammer

BEIJING, Aug. 10 (Xinhuanet) -- More than 80 sports collectors' items were auctioned off in Beijing Sunday on the occasion of the two-year anniversary of the 2008 Olympic Games, with the highest price going to the Berlin Olympic torch.

The torch, used in the first-ever Olympic torch relay for the 1936 Berlin Games, sold for 210,000 yuan, more than 31,000 U.S. dollars, during the 2nd Exceptional Auction of China Sports Collections.

It was the first Olympic torch with a burning unit to be auctioned in the Chinese market.

Torches that carried the flame in past Olympic Games are displayed during the 2nd Exceptional Auction of China Sports Collections in Beijing on Sunday, August 8, 2010.

The auction, organized by the Sports Committee of Chinese Collectors Association (SCCCA), also put under the hammer sportswear autographed by Chinese hurdler and Olympic champion Liu Xiang, and a gold medal from the 1924 Paris Games.

The total bidding reached more than 1 million yuan, about 150,000 U.S. dollars, a decrease from last year's auction.

SCCCA auctioned off 66 items in the inaugural Exceptional Auction of China Sports Collections in 2009, and took in 4 million yuan, about 590,000 U.S. dollars.

Hou Kun, spokesman of the event, said Chinese people have shown growing interests in Olympics memorabilia since the success of the Beijing Olympics in 2008, and the country is seeing a booming sports memorabilia market.

The price decline, on one hand, reflected the intelligent consumption of Chinese investors, said the event's organizers