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Gold medals aren’t the only thing on the minds of Olympians!
Along with competing in their sporting events, many athletes are looking forward to trading their country’s Olympic pins in exchange for one of Simone Biles’ custom trinkets that she brought to the 2024 Paris Summer Olympics.
The seven-time Olympic medalist, 27, posted a picture of her pins on her Instagram Stories last week ahead of the opening ceremony, which kicked off the Games on Friday, July 26. “Custom special edition pins,” Biles teased of the the gold-colored items that are in the shape of a heart with her name inscribed inside along with another heart drawn inside.
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Since then, athletes in Paris have turned to social media to describe the lengths they took to acquire one of the Games’ most coveted prizes — aside from a gold medal, of course — with Reuters reporting that “this year, the one that everyone wants is Simone Biles’s shiny heart.”
Tysha Ikenasio, a women’s rugby player from New Zealand, posted a TikTok on the Team New Zealand account detailing how she acquired a pin from Biles. “I had to walk up and beg that she took one of our New Zealand pins and then she said she’d give me a personal pin,” Ikenasio, 26, explained in the video while proudly holding up the pin.
“So I feel like I clocked the pin game. I got it!” she added.
Gymnast Pauline Schäfer from Germany also posted a picture of Biles’ pin on her Instagram Stories with the caption, “This one is special 😍Thank you Simone 🥰.”
Scott Bregman, a social media producer for the International Olympic Committee, was also excited to get a custom pin from Biles and documented the exchange for Olympics.com. “When the 27-year-old posted on Instagram that she had brought her own pins to Paris for the 2024 Olympic Games, I knew I had one to have one,” Bregman wrote.
“A custom pin like Biles is sporting at these Games is something of a first. It’s also quickly become one of the most sought-after treasures here – at least until there are gold medals being handed out,” he continued.
Even the BBC tried to get in on the pin-trading action, offering a Newsround Olympic pin (made from bamboo) to the athlete. “Thanks so much, I appreciate it,” Biles said upon receiving her collectable item from the outlet.
Pin trading is a long-standing tradition of the Olympics that can be traced back to 1896, when the first modern Olympic Games were held in Athens, Greece. At the time, they were used to differentiate athletes, judges and Olympic officials.
After 128 years, the tradition evolved into a conversation starter for athletes to meet other Olympians in the Olympic Village and interact with their teammates in other sports. Countries, sports teams, brands, the host country — and now athletes — all create their own pins to trade at the Games.
Tennis icon Serena Williams is a self-proclaimed “first-class pin collector,” according to Reuters, which reported that she started her own collection during the 2000 Sydney Olympics. Per the outlet, her most prized possession is North Korea pin that she acquired in Rio in 2016. “I would never, ever, ever trade that,” she said.
Ahead of this year’s Games, Women’s volleyball star Chiaka Ogbogu told PEOPLE she regretted not being on her “pin game” at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics and is “stepping it up” this time around. “Me and my teammates specifically, we’ve been trying to just explore the village now that we can and get to know people,” she said.
Ogbogu, 29, added, “The village has a really cool bar area that’s been really fun to hang out with and just trade pins. I’ve been on my pin game.”
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