OlymPicks: Pin Your Olympic Memories With These Cute Widgets

原创 Yiran Huang theBeijinger

收录于合集

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The 2020 Tokyo Olympics is drawing to a close, and after more than a year of stress, fear, and isolation because of the pandemic, people’s passion for the international sports extravaganza was higher this year than it has ever been. I bet I’m not the only one who hasn’t been able to take my eyes off the screen, secretly watching (or listening to) my favorite games on my phone during work, and feeling my heart beating with the athletes as if I’m competing on the same field!

Only three days left to say goodbye to Tokyo 2020 Olympics

Far away in Tokyo, athletes from all over the world have been fighting for both personal and national glory. But secretly, they’re also competing in a different kind of “game”—another quadrennial ritual, but with a lot more fun. That would be Olympic pin trading! You can tell how much they are devoted to this game from their overwhelmed ribbons stabbed with all kinds of colorful pins! And since it’s a game that even spectators can participate in, you too have the chance to build up your own collection!

China's table tennis champion Sun Yingsha is trading her pins with Thomas Bach, President of the International Olympic Committee

History

Olympic pins originated in Athens, Greece at the first modern Olympics in 1896, where cardboard circles were used to distinguish athletes, officials and media personnel. Exchanging these circles was seen an early gesture of goodwill between competing nations. The custom soon turned into the pin trading we know today.

From Collector’s Weekly:

The first souvenir pins were produced for spectators to purchase at the 1912 Stockholm games. Among the rarest of Olympic pins are those made for the 1940 games, which were cancelled because of World War II.

The first sponsorship pin was designed by Sylvania Electric Products, Inc., for the 1960 winter games in Squaw Valley. In 1968, the Mexico City games featured the first butterfly-clutch pin fastener, which has become the standard of Olympic pins today. However, the pin-trading tradition wasn’t firmly established until the 1980s, when sponsoring companies like Hard Rock Cafe and Coca-Cola marketed their own pins and set up official trading stations.

Coca-cola has always been a loyal friend of the Olympics

Buy Your Pin in Beijing

Although we can’t make it to the Tokyo Olympics, you’ve still got the chance to purchase your first ever pin or trade pins with other enthusiasts, right here in Beijing! The Beijing 2022 Olympic Pin Culture Week was held last month at a special trading center at Wangfujing’s Gongmei Building, and people can now trade Olympic pins there every day before the closing day of the Tokyo Olympics. Or if you prefer to stay at home and do your shopping online, the licensed Tmall online shop can also meet your Olympic pin need. With a simple click you can get your favorite pin delivered right to your front door!

People trade pins at the newly opened trading center in Beijing

To buy Olympic pins and Beijing Winter Olympics-themed products, you need to go to the licensed product shops. There are currently over 30 such shops all over Beijing, and over a hundred all across China. A new shop just opened up last month near Tiananmen Square, making it more convenient for travelers to buy their Olympic souvenirs.

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