The 2012 London Olympics Sports Thread

[Josephus]

NOt sure if anyone caught it but at the very end, after the Who left the stage, someone inadverently hit the play button, and you could hear The Who sing again. I wonder why the whole thing is lip synched?

Because having good sound in an open air 80k places stadium is next to impossible. Especially with multiple performers & stages.

Wouldnt be the first concert ever performed in a stadium.

[Josephus]

And who is this Ed Sheeran guy anyways?

http://www.gigwise.com/news/75410/ed-sheeran-fans-mistake-pink-floyd-hit-for-new-song

[Drakken]

And who is this Ed Sheeran guy anyways?

http://www.gigwise.com/news/75410/ed-sheeran-fans-mistake-pink-floyd-hit-for-new-song

[Josephus]

Silly question but I can't find a definitive answer.

If I go abroad and come back with gold jewelry I'd have to price it and declare it on my Customs Declaration. Odds are if it exceeds my allowance I'd have to pay duty.

Do athletes, Canadian or American, have to do that. I know they pay taxes on their prize money.

[Barrister]

Silly question but I can't find a definitive answer.

If I go abroad and come back with gold jewelry I'd have to price it and declare it on my Customs Declaration. Odds are if it exceeds my allowance I'd have to pay duty.

Do athletes, Canadian or American, have to do that. I know they pay taxes on their prize money.

Do Olympians have to pay duty on their gold medals?

Legally they probably do, but practically, given how hard it would be to put a monetary value on an Olympic gold medal, I'm willing to bet CBSA officials don't worry about it.

[CountDeMoney]

Do Olympians have to pay duty on their gold medals?

Only a Euro would ask a question like that.

[alfred russel]

Silly question but I can't find a definitive answer.

If I go abroad and come back with gold jewelry I'd have to price it and declare it on my Customs Declaration. Odds are if it exceeds my allowance I'd have to pay duty.

Do athletes, Canadian or American, have to do that. I know they pay taxes on their prize money.

That has been a mini political sideshow here. In the US the prize money would be taxable. Marco Rubio put out a bill to exempt medalists from those taxes, and Obama has gotten behind it.

It would be awesome if they only exempted they only exempted the gold medal prizes, with the explanation that the US doesn't want to incentivize losers through the tax code.

[CountDeMoney]

It would be awesome if they only exempted they only exempted the gold medal prizes, with the explanation that the US doesn't want to incentivize losers through the tax code.

Pretty sure that's still in the Ryan budget anyway.

[HVC]

Silly question but I can't find a definitive answer.

If I go abroad and come back with gold jewelry I'd have to price it and declare it on my Customs Declaration. Odds are if it exceeds my allowance I'd have to pay duty.

Do athletes, Canadian or American, have to do that. I know they pay taxes on their prize money.

Do Olympians have to pay duty on their gold medals?

Legally they probably do, but practically, given how hard it would be to put a monetary value on an Olympic gold medal, I'm willing to bet CBSA officials don't worry about it.

Since they have to pay tax on their awards (athletes get money from their organizations for placing) i wouldn't be surprised if they have to pay duties too.

[Brazen]

I cannot for the life of me get hold of any bastard Paralympics tickets. The ticketing website is just as shite as it was for the Olympics. I would dearly like to see an event in the Olympic Park before it gets closed down for two years then re-opened as housing and leisure.

[CountDeMoney]

I cannot for the life of me get hold of any bastard Paralympics tickets.

Shouldn't be too difficult to catch up with them.

[Josephus]

Silly question but I can't find a definitive answer.

If I go abroad and come back with gold jewelry I'd have to price it and declare it on my Customs Declaration. Odds are if it exceeds my allowance I'd have to pay duty.

Do athletes, Canadian or American, have to do that. I know they pay taxes on their prize money.

Do Olympians have to pay duty on their gold medals?

Legally they probably do, but practically, given how hard it would be to put a monetary value on an Olympic gold medal, I'm willing to bet CBSA officials don't worry about it.

it probably isn't that hard to put a monetary value on it. I think it's a reasonable question. American friend of mine says that returning athletes do have to claim their medals.

[mongers]

I cannot for the life of me get hold of any bastard Paralympics tickets. The ticketing website is just as shite as it was for the Olympics. I would dearly like to see an event in the Olympic Park before it gets closed down for two years then re-opened as housing and leisure.

I can help, but a friend of mine was one of the neutral service mechanics for Shimano and for a week he had an all access pass for the whole village; sounds like one of the opportunities of a life time, being on the inside of the vellodrome for Olympic races. 
Oh and hes' just found out the company are sending the 6 volunteers who helped a limited edition Shimano watch, as a thank you. 

[Barrister]

Silly question but I can't find a definitive answer.

If I go abroad and come back with gold jewelry I'd have to price it and declare it on my Customs Declaration. Odds are if it exceeds my allowance I'd have to pay duty.

Do athletes, Canadian or American, have to do that. I know they pay taxes on their prize money.

Do Olympians have to pay duty on their gold medals?

Legally they probably do, but practically, given how hard it would be to put a monetary value on an Olympic gold medal, I'm willing to bet CBSA officials don't worry about it.

it probably isn't that hard to put a monetary value on it. I think it's a reasonable question. American friend of mine says that returning athletes do have to claim their medals.

Sure it is.

Usually putting a value on soemthing is easy.  An item is worth what you paid for it.

But an olympic medal isn't something you can buy firsthand.  Do you value it for the sheer weight of its metal?  That's one way, but seriously under-estimates the value of it.  Do you value it on what replicas are going for?  Do you value it based on what medals have gone for on the secondary market (people selling them on eBay and what not)?  I see that a bronze medal from 1992 Barcelona games in boxing is listed on eBay for $12,500.

No, most CBSA officers are dealing with a long line-up of people.  They're as patriotic as anyone else.  It's far easier to just cross out the medal on the declaration list and move on.

Living in Yukon, we'd make a day trip into Alaska once or twice a year.  I'd always pick up a case of Alaskan beer.  Being a day trip I had no duty-free allowance.  Coming back I'd always declare my beer.  Not once did they make me pay the duty - it was too much bother for the couple of bucks I'd have to pay.


And I wonder if they have to pay taxes of prize money.  Remembering back from my tax law class, the usual rule is you don't pay taxes on windfalls - unexpected sources of income.  Gambling was the usual example.  However if gambling becomes your routine source of income it is no longer a windfall, and does become regular income.  Given many athletes are still amateurs, I wonder if this kind of prize money counts as a windfall for them.

[Josephus]

And I wonder if they have to pay taxes of prize money.  Remembering back from my tax law class, the usual rule is you don't pay taxes on windfalls - unexpected sources of income.  Gambling was the usual example.  However if gambling becomes your routine source of income it is no longer a windfall, and does become regular income.  Given many athletes are still amateurs, I wonder if this kind of prize money counts as a windfall for them.

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/report-on-business/economy/economy-lab/faster-higher-richer-should-olympic-medal-winners-be-taxed/article4478307/