Some do it for money, some do it for love of it: The booming business of trading Olympic pins

PARIS: For an elite athlete, nothing comes close to the high of winning an Olympic medal. But the lesser mortals, including fans and volunteers, chase the simpler joys of life during the two-week long Summer Games and at the top of their wish-list is trading Olympic pins.

Some trade pins for money, others do it for the love of the exercise that has become an integral part of Olympic tradition.

Pin collecting and trading goes as far back as 1896 when the first modern Olympics were held.

Therefore, it is not a surprise that Olympic pin traders are working overtime across venues of the Paris Games, which officially begin with an unprecedented opening ceremony on river Seine on Friday evening.

The seasoned ones have camped themselves outside the Athletes Games Village, which is usually the hub of pin trading activity with sportspersons, fans and volunteers looking to exchange their desired piece of metal.

Among them are USA's Brad Frank, who has been trading pins since the 1996 Atlanta Olympics and sells them on E-Bay but not when he is attending the Games, so he claims.

Giving him stiff competition are Ross Baxter from Canada and Yorick Spieker from Germany. Unlike Frank, 86-year-old Baxter and Spieker are not in the trading business for money.

Pin trading can be addictive and the pains that the likes of Frank, Baxter and Spieke take to enhance their collection is a testament to that.

"This is my 11th Olympics since Atlanta (including Summer and Winter games). I love to meet people from all over the world and experience the Olympic spirit," said Frank, who got introduced to pin trading through his friend during the 1996 Atlanta edition and he has not looked back since then.

Frank was a teacher for 30 years until he found his calling in pin trading.

"My friend got 7,00,000 pins from the USA Olympic Committee in 1996. He told me to come and start trading and I have been trading pins ever since," added Frank, who has had the honour of trading pins with Olympic legend Michael Phelps.

Also stationed at the Games Village entrance is Baxter, who made his trading debut in hometown of Calgary during the Winter Games in 1988.

"I took to pin trading after I got one from a member of the Taiwanese team during the Calgary Games. That is how I started and I have covered 14 Olympics since then.

"Unlike Americans, I don't do it for the money, I just love the exercise," said Baxter, who wants to add more pins to his collection that runs into thousands.

The octogenarian proudly flaunts the only pin he has from India, which was given to him by a Doordarshan employee in the 1988 Seoul Olympics.

"I would love to have more from India. Do you have one?" he asks politely.

For Spieker from Germany, trading pins is all about passion.

He traded his first pin as a 17-year-old student in the 1992 Barcelona Olympics and he has attended most of the Olympics since then. When he is not trading, he heads a team of salesmen back home.

"I would never do this for the money, I already have enough," summed up Spieker.