Pin trading, the unofficial sport of the 2024 Olympics NBC 7 San Diego [Video]

The night before he flew to France, 19-year-old London collector Josh Waller had — quite literally — thousands of pins strewn across his bedroom. He was sorting through his collection to decide which pins to trade at the Paris Olympics.

He ended up bringing about 1,000 with him, with many pinned onto two towels that he displayed in the official trading center.

Waller is part of a community of athletes, spectators, journalists and officials who partake in the longstanding tradition of trading and collecting pins at the Olympics. Some are calling it the “unofficial sport” of the Games.

“How many pins exist? It has to be in the millions at least,” pin collector Ed Schneider said in a video on the Olympics website.

Pin trading has taken off in Paris. The entire city is dotted with pins from National Olympic Committees, corporate sponsors, media …