Celebrities at the Olympics are totally ‘wired’ about this traditional fad

PARIS (AP) — Across the Atlantic, from Wall Street, a market — healthier than cutthroat — has emerged the Paris Olympic Games. The product at the center of it all? Pins.

The city has seen an influx of collectors from all over the world, all eager to start or expand their Olympic pin collection share their stories.

“People are programmed to act. Folks, we want to trade,” said Craig Robbins, a passionate pin collector from Los Angeles. “If you can’t trade in life, you die.”

“Do you have any pins?” a Starbucks barista asks every journalist who comes for coffee at the Palais des Congrès, the main press center of the Olympic Games.

From busy coffee shops to quiet streets, the same demand echoes throughout the city, as Olympic volunteers, athletes, media workers, waiters, tourists and more all search for the same prized accessories.

“You can really feel the craze this year,” says French pin collector Laurent Facy.

The pin hunt has become an integral part of the Olympic Games and adds an extra layer of excitement to the Games. “It has become a game; we act a bit like we used to on the playground,” he says.

The tradition can be traced back to the first modern Olympic Games, revived by Pierre de Coubertin in 1896. In Athens, athletes, coaches and reporters wore small cardboard badges for identification.

More than a century later, the badges have evolved into highly detailed, intricate and sometimes technological pins, customized to participating countries, news organizations, brands and even people.

“They’re like little works of art,” says Nicholas Wolaver, a dedicated American collector and dealer, passionately.

Los Angeles 1984 was crucial, according to the many PIN traders on the street; many of them started collecting there.

“You had media pins, sponsor pins, athlete pins, mascot pins. They found a way to make real money with pins for the public, and people went crazy,” Wolaver says of those Games.

After two Olympic Games held without spectators Amid the coronavirus pandemic, pin pandemonium has flared up again.

“Paris has been very good for pin collecting because after the pandemic, where you couldn’t exchange pins as often in Tokyo and Beijing, people are very enthusiastic,” Wolaver explains.

The popularity of the pins has been increased by social media and the fact that Olympians themselves are participating in the game. Serena Williams a former Olympian, described himself as a “first-class pin collector” in a video on the Olympic Games’ official Instagram account. She even has her favorites: “There are a few from Thailand that I will never trade. Finally I was able to get the North Korean pin.”

The British Andy Murray, the tennis player who has just retired in Paris, is also all-in pin trading, according to former tennis player Laura Robson on Eurosport.

“There’s an athlete from Liechtenstein and (Andy) searched high and low in the village to find this poor man,” she said.

One of the most notable pins at these Olympics is that of Snoop Dogg the rapper turned NBC correspondent blowing smoke in the shape of the Olympic rings.

“What’s really cool is that Snoop Dogg has gotten even the youngest kids interested in pins,” Robbins says.

The appeal of PIN trading lies in its accessibility and inclusiveness. While official Olympic competition is confined to stadiums, pin trading takes place everywhere – even online. (Associated Press’s own pins cost between $30 and $50 on eBay.)

Wearing clothes seems to be the only condition for participation. Dealers and collectors decorate themselves – their badges, their shirts, their hats – with mosaics of multicolored pins, sparkling in the Parisian summer light.

Traders can spot each other from a distance and admire each other’s extensive collection. The sight of a fellow collector’s vibrant exhibit is often more than enough to spark a conversation.

“Pins break down the walls where people can talk to each other,” Robbins explains.

“It was just a nice way to meet people,” says Arr Alansod, who sits next to him on the street.

And it doesn’t just facilitate conversation with fellow enthusiasts. The pins serve as a draw for curious tourists and newcomers to the Olympic Games.

“You meet a lot of people,” says Paul Ians, another American visitor and collector. “It’s not so much the other pin traders, it’s the regular people who come to the Olympics.”

Everyone seems to agree that Pins build a bridge between people and create a platform for interesting encounters: “Often these strangers will tell you something you don’t know,” says Ians.

Sometimes these strangers are more prominent: in his forty years of trading, French President Emmanuel Macron and Thomas Bach, President of the International Olympic Committee are some of Wolaver’s proudest exchanges.

Essentially, every pin contains a story, and through trading people become storytellers, sharing pieces of their own personal, often Olympian story.

For more coverage of the Paris Olympics, visit https://apnews.com/hub/2024-paris-olympic-games.