While taking home a gold medal is the ultimate goal at the Olympics , some athletes are also looking to collect the special edition pins at the games. Pin trading has been common practice at the Olympics over the years. However, it has blown up at the 2024 Paris Olympics as countless athletes have documented their quest for pins via social media.
Even the official Olympics website has deemed pin trading as the “unofficial sport of the Olympics.” In addition to athletes trading with each other, fans travel from all over the world to participate in the phenomenon. While Simone Biles ’ husband, Jonathan Owens , was looking forward to seeing his wife compete in Paris, the gymnast shared he was also stoked to get involved in the pin game.
“He was more excited to pin trade,” Biles said to Hoda Kotb on Today in July. “I didn’t think he would, but I did warn him that pin trading was really huge. So he absolutely loved that.
” Keep scrolling to learn more about Olympic pin trading: According to CBS Sunday Morning , the Olympic pin trading tradition began at the 1896 games in Athens. The collectibles were made out of cardboard at the time and were initially used to identify athletes to the media. As time went on, the Olympic committee began creating more durable pins that athletes, event staff, journalists and fans could swap.
In 2024, pin trading went viral as athletes documented their pin trading quests via social media as they sought out the custom collectibles. Each .