Pin trading is popular at Paris Olympics

Some athletes will be leaving Paris with medals, while some spectators will be leaving with pins.

Pin trading is a popular tradition at the Olympic Games.

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This year, enthusiasts are excited to get back into it after spectator access was limited at the Tokyo and Beijing Games.

NBC10 Boston's Bianca Beltran and photojournalist Darrell Smith participated for their first time in pin trading in Paris and spoke to others who have been doing it for decades.

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"At home I have about 10,000 so ten thousand single pins and now with me I have about 2,000 pins just for trading in Paris," said Yorick Spieker, from Germany, who booked an eight-day trip in Paris during the Olympics -- mainly for pin trading.

"They all have a story," Spiker added. "The Beijing ones where no one was allowed to go to the games, very rare ones. Some pins going long back, 1960s and 80s. There’s stories to each pin I have."

The U.S. men have claimed gold in every Olympics since 2008, and now have 17 championships overall.

Once you start looking for them, pin traders are everywhere at the Games -- from the veterans to the casual collectors.

"We’ve been trading pins probably since Los Angeles in 1984, Atlanta, Australia I’ve also done Vancouver, London and Paris!," said Thurston Bellow.

At the end of the day, it's not so much about the exchange of pins, it's the smiles that come from the little things that bring joy, discovering you have something in common thousands of miles way from home.

"You know when you trade pins you meet people from all over the world and it breaks down barriers of communication," Bellow said. "I’ve had a lot of fun."

"You just meet other people and even if you don’t speak the same language you can still make pin trades," said Ron Isbell.

"It brings people together. You don’t have to be an athlete, you don’t have to be an official, just walk to someone and ask hey do you want to do pin trading?," said Spieker. "And sometimes it’s just very short interactions and sometimes takes a minute or longer. So it’s just the interaction with people from all over the world."