Simone Biles’ Custom Pins Are One of the Most Coveted Items at 2024 Paris Olympics

### Simone Biles’ Custom Pins Become Coveted Items at 2024 Paris Olympics

Seven-time Olympic medalist Simone Biles has brought a unique and highly sought-after item to the 2024 Paris Summer Olympics: her own custom pins. These gold-colored, heart-shaped pins feature her name and an additional heart inscribed inside, and have become a hot commodity among athletes at the Games.

Biles, 27, showcased her pins on her Instagram Stories before the opening ceremony on July 26, calling them “Custom special edition pins.” Since then, athletes have been sharing their efforts to obtain one of these prized trinkets. Reuters reported, “This year, the one that everyone wants is Simone Biles’s shiny heart.”
https://x.com/ringleaps/status/1815743189883462006?t=l1vQk2E9xsh-oJFfmaFxVA&s=19
New Zealand women’s rugby player Tysha Ikenasio, 26, shared on TikTok how she managed to get 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 explained, proudly displaying her new acquisition. Gymnast Pauline Schäfer from Germany also shared her excitement on Instagram, posting a picture of Biles’ pin with the caption, “This one is special 😍 Thank you Simone 🥰.”

Scott Bregman, a social media producer for the International Olympic Committee, documented his experience acquiring a pin 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 to have one,” Bregman wrote. He noted that a custom pin like Biles’ is a rarity and has quickly become one of the most coveted items at the Games, second only to gold medals.

The BBC also joined the pin-trading frenzy, offering Biles a bamboo Newsround Olympic pin, which she gratefully accepted.

Pin trading is a long-standing Olympic tradition dating back to the first modern Games in Athens in 1896, where pins were used to differentiate athletes, judges, and officials. Over 128 years, the tradition has evolved into a way for athletes to meet and interact with one another in the Olympic Village. Countries, sports teams, brands, the host country, and now individual athletes create their own pins to trade.

Tennis icon Serena Williams is a noted pin collector, having started her collection during the 2000 Sydney Olympics. Her most prized possession is a North Korean pin acquired in Rio in 2016, which she treasures and would never trade.

Women’s volleyball star Chiaka Ogbogu, 29, expressed her intent to be more active in pin trading at the Paris Games after regretting her lack of participation in Tokyo 2020. “Me and my teammates specifically, we’ve been trying to just explore the village now that we can and get to know people,” she told PEOPLE. Ogbogu highlighted the vibrant social scene in the village’s bar area, which has been a hub for pin trading and interaction among athletes.