Olympic pin trading, a competition of its own!

• What's up with trading Olympic pins? 
• Why do spectators and athletes become excited when receiving a new and unusual pin?
• Why do some wait in line to view vendor product demonstrations with the expectation of a pin reward?

Staff and volunteers decorate lanyards holding accreditation cards with colorful enamel pins. Each pin tells a story of an encounter with a guest from another country, conversation with an athlete or chance encounter in the canteen. I brought several bags of USA flag pins and have enjoyed giving these away, especially to children and young adults who approach me to practice English language skills! 

According to Kyle Vanhemert of wired.com, "Pin trading dates to the dawn of the modern Olympics, when three designs were produced for the 1896 Games: One for judges, one for athletes, and one for officials. Production skyrocketed with the 1936 Games in Berlin; the Nazis manufactured them in the millions as tiny propaganda pieces.

In the years since, pins have become highly collectible. Nearly every country competing arrives with boxes of them, and some produce unique pins for individual sports...The International Olympic Committee offers its own dignified designs, and of course sponsors hand pins of their own to anyone who asks."

Some of my favorite pins acquired during the 2018 Paralympic Winter Games are: a Romanian Paralympic Team pin given by an athlete, lion-headed pin from GBR Paralympics, happy Bandabi mascot received from an art and tourism volunteer, and "119" (known in the US as 9-1-1) pin from an EMS tech, who was stationed nearby our volunteer team during Opening Ceremonies. Can't wait to get some new pins before the end of the Games!