Olympic pin trading is back for the 2024 Paris Games — and more popular than ever.
The longstanding tradition, sometimes referred to as the "unofficial sport of the Olympics," involves trading and collecting official country pins as well as pins from media networks, host cities and sponsors. This year, USA team gymnast star Simone Biles even has her own personal pin: a small gold heart with her signature inside.
"How many pins exist? It has to be in the millions at least," pin enthusiast Ed Schneider said in a video on Olympics.com.
Since the Paris Games started, the practice has poured over to social media with athletes and fans alike posting videos shouting out the beloved tradition. Almost 17,000 posts on Tiktok contain the hashtag #pintrading.
Some of the biggest names in the sports world have even gotten in on the fun, including Serena Williams, who referred to herself as a "first class pin collector" in a video posted to the official Olympics Instagram account Sunday. The women's tennis GOAT said her personal pin collecting journey all started back at the 2000 Sydney Games. "Shockingly I didn't qualify [for singles], but I took the opportunity to trade pins," she said.
The Paris opening ceremony was a prime time for team members to swap pins – with some even making risky tosses along the Seine River. A video posted by athlete Joseph Clarke shows the British canoe slalom competitor exchanging pins with a boat of Spanish athletes. "A dangerous trade but worth it for the Spanish pin," wrote Clarke on his Tiktok.
On the U.S. boat, basketball phenom Steph Curry was caught in a video posted by the Team USA account TikTok trading with teammates. "Steph Curry is all in on the pins‼" the post reads.
Who takes part?
Pin exchanges are not just reserved for athletes: Spectators, journalists, and Olympic officials are also active members of the collecting and trading scene.
There's even entire collector clubs dedicated to the hobby. The International Association of Olympic Collectors, or AICO, has members across the world, including the U.S.-based collector group Olympin, which has 500 members from more than 30 different nations.
Pin traders from all over the world relish in the opportunity to track down rare pins and connect with other enthusiasts.
"It's an education. I've learned things that wouldn't have interested me at all when I was in school, and now I learn it because it's part of doing the hunt," said Olympin president Don Bigsby in a 2022 interview with CBS Sunday Morning.
History of pin trading
While #pintrading may be trending now, the tradition started gaining traction long before the internet. Sunday Morning producer Roman Feeser reported in 2022 that the tradition dates back all the way to the 1896 Olympic Games in Athens Greece. "Pins were cardboard and used to identify athletes and media," said Feeser.
This evolved into a longstanding tradition of collecting and trading pins, with athletes, event staff, journalists and fans taking part.
The flimsy cardboard used in the first modern games was eventually upgraded to a stronger enamel material. The more durable pins proved to be a reliable revenue stream for Olympic committees, according to the official Olympic site.
In recent years, pin producers have added more bells and whistles. AICO's site says that newer pins have "colors that change, parts that move, and lights and sounds that turn on and off."
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