A picture shows the bedroom in Beijing Olympic Village. The bed used by China's giant basketball star Yao Ming at the Olympics will be among millions of items of memorabilia auctioned off after the Beijing Games, media said on Thursday.

The bed used by China's giant basketball star Yao Ming at the Olympics will be among millions of items of memorabilia auctioned off after the Beijing Games, media said on Thursday.

The bed will be the one that the 2.26-metre Yao sleeps on during his stay at the Beijing Olympic Village during the August 8-24 Games, according to reports.

It is one of about 200 million items used during the Games that will eventually go under the hammer in online bidding that started on Wednesday.

The auctions could fetch up to 1 billion yuan (145 million dollars).

"We will highlight items like Yao's bed for bidders," Xiong Yan, president of the China Beijing Equity Exchange, which will handle the auctions, said Wednesday.

"Obviously, the bidding will be hot. People will be looking for memorabilia," Xiong said.

The vast range of items that will be up for grabs will include furniture, sports equipment, electronics, and even some pieces of land used as temporary sports venues, the report said.

The size of Yao's bed was not detaied but officials have said previously Yao and other especially tall athletes will sleep on special, extended mattresses.