Meet the Olympic superfans: 'I have 5,000 pins stored in shoe boxes'
For the first time in Olympic Games history, trinket collectors have their own official trading space. For many, treasuring Olympic memorabilia is a gold medal sport in itself.
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00:00You don't need to be a world-class athlete to feel a part of the Olympics. For some,
00:13collecting memorabilia is a gold medal sport in itself. We've come to a fan zone on the
00:17outskirts of Paris to speak with some superfans and collectors.
00:21This is the first time ever that collectors have their own dedicated space.
00:25The start of the Olympic collection is the timbre, but today the timbres have decreased
00:32a lot, especially the pins. And then there's everything that has to do with the Olympics.
00:37So there are tickets to the Olympic Games, postcards, timbres, magazines, winter objects,
00:43mascots.
00:44Eighty-seven-year-old Robert Prat from Monaco has been collecting pins for 40 years.
00:50I started collecting pins and medals at the age of 40, everything that is metallic, on
00:57the Olympic Games. So I currently have about 5,000 official coins from all the games from
01:07all over the world. It's my pleasure. I'm not interested in selling the money at all.
01:13Catherine Salin brought her collection of pins to Paris for the duration of the Games.
01:18I think you can call me a superfan because since 1992 I've played 14 Olympic Games,
01:24either summer or winter. So Paris will be my 15th game.
01:29There may be an official trading space, but collectors also exchange elsewhere.
01:33When I bring pins that I have not paid a lot of money for, if I can trade them or sell
01:37them for more than I paid, it will help reduce the cost of my trip.
01:40To see somebody with a bag like this or a lanyard with pins on them, that means that
01:45they're willing to trade, so it's okay to go up to them and talk to them. It's not just
01:48the revenue side, but the interaction. It's fun to talk to people.
01:51For collectors, Olympic memorabilia is at the heart of telling the Games story.