Amna Nawaz
Amna Nawaz
@PBSNewsHour·5.3M subscribers·62.2K videos

Inside the Olympics’ unofficial sport: pin-trading

Posted

February 14, 2026

Views

3,562

Likes

23

Engagement

0.65%

Search the Record

Indexed

Every word spoken in this episode is indexed. Type any phrase to jump straight to the moment it was said.

Type any word or phrase that may have been spoken. Click a result to seek the player to that exact moment.

Try a name, a topic, or a quoted line

YouTube Description

as posted by the channel

Pin trading, a well-loved tradition of the Olympics, once again has athletes and fans alike buzzing.

Affectionately referred to as the games’ “unofficial sport,” the souvenir swapping traces its roots back to the first modern Olympic Games in 1896, when cardboard badges were worn by athletes.

Today, national Olympic committees, media organizations and official Olympic sponsors all create their own pins for trading. Athletes and pin fanatics can also create their own.

Some pins are traded, some pins are sold. Rare ones can sell for over $1,000 online, but pin collectors say you can’t put a price on memories.

Sign up for Here's The Deal with Lisa Desjardins

Subscribe for exclusive content in our newsletters

PBS News podcasts

Stream your PBS favorites with the PBS app

Find more from PBS News at

Subscribe to our YouTube channel

Guests & Subjects Covered

Inside the Olympics’ unofficial sportOlympic GamesWatch PBS NewsPBS News HourHere's The DealLisa Desjardins SubscribePBS NewsTikTok X Instagram Facebook

Sentinel Indexing in Progress

Metadata and chapters are available. Claim extraction for this episode is pending.

All video content is delivered via YouTube embedded players in accordance with the YouTube Terms of Service. Sentinel provides research tools that promote discovery and accountability across political media.

Inside the Olympics’ unofficial sport: pin-trading · Amna Nawaz · Sentinel