The 2012 London Olympics Sports Thread

[Josephus]

According to that article:

here has been a significant amount of discussion about the tax treatment of Olympians. It has been well reported that the Canadian Olympic Committee (COC) awarded prize money to Canadian athletes that won medals in London. It has equally been well reported that this money is taxable.

The tax treatment of Olympic prize money in Canada mirrors that in the U.S., though American athletes may also be subject to tax on the value of their medals due to legal precedent (there is, as of yet, no precedent in Canada for taxing the value of Olympic medals). The U.S. congress, however, is set to consider a tax exemption on these winnings in its Fall term.

[so, yes the medals do have value, but this article does answer my question...Canadians don't pay duty on the medals.]

[Barrister]

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/

Thanks - informative article.

[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.

C'mon, this was comedy gold, Jerry.  Gold!

[crazy canuck]

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.

But in those concerts hours, sometimes days, are spent setting up and sound checking.  Here the stage gets set in minutes and there is no time to sound check.

[Valmy]

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

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

C'mon, this was comedy gold, Jerry.  Gold!

I found it very offensive

[Brazen]

Just secured a pair of tickets to the Paralympics cycling a week on Thursday. Having been to a couple of events in Olympic park venues when it was a wasteland and an actual Olympic event on a separate site that I'd been to before, I was dying to get to an event on the park before they close it for two years and re-purpose it. I gather the park itself is quite an event, despite £4.50 beer.

[DGuller]

I'm curious to see how Alex Zanardi would do in the hand-cycling event.

[Sheilbh]

CAN'T BUY TICKETS

[mongers]

CAN'T BUY TICKETS

Paralympic Games: Thousands more tickets on sale

3 hours ago
Day passes will be available for spectators to experience a variety of sports

Paralympics organisers have put 45,000 more tickets on sale in addition to the 20,000 already available for the opening and closing ceremonies.

Most are for athletics, but they are also for events including cycling, equestrian and wheelchair basketball.

Some 2.2 million Paralympics tickets have been sold so far, with 2.5 million expected to be made available in total.
.......

Rest of item here:
http://m.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-19287660

[dps]

According to that article:

here has been a significant amount of discussion about the tax treatment of Olympians. It has been well reported that the Canadian Olympic Committee (COC) awarded prize money to Canadian athletes that won medals in London. It has equally been well reported that this money is taxable.

The tax treatment of Olympic prize money in Canada mirrors that in the U.S., though American athletes may also be subject to tax on the value of their medals due to legal precedent (there is, as of yet, no precedent in Canada for taxing the value of Olympic medals). The U.S. congress, however, is set to consider a tax exemption on these winnings in its Fall term.

[so, yes the medals do have value, but this article does answer my question...Canadians don't pay duty on the medals.]

I don't have a problem with giving them a tax exemption on the value of the medals (though if any of them ever were to sell off any medals, the proceeds should then be taxable) but I definately don't like the idea of any cash awards being tax-exempt.  It's not been clear from the articles that I've seen if Congress is considering making just the medals themselves tax-exempt, or any winnings.  Frankly I should have looked into that question more, but I just haven't bothered.

[Josquius]

I've finally watched the closing ceremony.
Who the hell are One Direction and what are they doing there?

[katmai]

I've finally watched the closing ceremony.
Who the hell are One Direction and what are they doing there?

No idea who they are but my niece loves them.

[Brazen]

I've finally watched the closing ceremony.
Who the hell are One Direction and what are they doing there?

A made-up group from a talent show you were out of the country for that has become inexplicably successful. Like a Monkees for the twenty-tens. Think yourself lucky.

Shelf, follow @2012TicketAlert on Twitter, click on the first thing you see the second it pops up and buy.

[Grey Fox]

The Monkees, that's an accurate comparison.

[Drakken]

The Monkees, that's an accurate comparison.

Don't diss Mike Nesmith.