Tony Stavropoulos, a 61-year-old electrician and a self-described lover of the Olympics, said the moment he saw them advertised he knew he "had to have a go at this."

"Since the Greeks invented the games I saw it and thought I can't let an opportunity like this go," he said.

"There's not too many sets of rings going around from the Sydney Olympic Games."

The auction opened at $10,000 and went without a single bid for nine days, before a flurry of activity, driven by substantial media coverage of the sale, saw the price double in the auction's final hour. 

Mr Stavropoulos, who does not have an eBay account and asked his friend to bid on his behalf, said he was willing to pay as much as $25,000 for the iconic structures, but ultimately beat his nearest challenger by $100 to secure them for $21,100.

"It just happened so quickly. It was all over in an hour's time," he said.

He said had not yet decided what to do with his new purchase, but had a few ideas in mind. 

"I've learnt that Queensland has put in a bid for the games in 2028, so they might be interested in buying them," he said. "They're going to need a set of rings, aren't they?"

In the mean time, Mr Stavropoulos said he planned store them at a friend's property in Queensland, and would make arrangements to transport the 40 disassembled pieces from Goulburn on semi-trailers in the coming weeks. 

"I'd like to see them put up permanently in Homebush stadium. That's where the games where held. I don't know why they didn't put them there in the first place.

"If Mike Baird's got some spare cash, I'm open to offers."

The rings were posted for sale on eBay last week by Goulburn businessman Bernard Maas, who acquired the massive steel structures four weeks ago, when he bought the Goulburn factory that had been contracted to supply them for the Games. 

"With the purchase of the building came the contents of the building, which was the rings," Mr Maas, a company director at Gilmore Stations in Goulburn, said. 

Mr Maas said he was "really pleased at the result" after fearing that he would be forced to deliver the rings to a scrap yard because they were taking up too much room inside the factory.

He said he had congratulated Mr Stavropoulos on his winning bid and informed him he would need about "eight or 10 semi-trailers" to move the 40 disassembled sections.

"He's just bought them and said 'I don't know what I'm going to do with them'," he said.

"He's really go no idea of the enormity of these things. It's probably the biggest piece of sporting memorabilia in the world."

Mr Maas said he planned to spend money upgrading the factory and replacing lights and power boards. 

"It won't take long to use the $21,000," he said.

Newcastle Herald