Serena Williams discloses how she became Olympic pins collector after “shockingly” not qualifying for singles in Sydney as she goes trading in Paris
Serena Williams and Venus Williams won the doubles gold in Sydney Olympics. (Images: Getty)
Serena Williams discloses how she became Olympic pins collector after “shockingly” not qualifying for singles in Sydney as she goes trading in Paris
By
Ayush Vashistha
Modified Jul 29, 2024 11:01 GMT
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Serena Williams recently revealed how she became an Olympic pin collector in Sydney. Pin collecting is a tradition that has been synonymous with the Olympics.
Pins have been used to identify players and officials from participating countries at the Games and their popularity as a souvenir has grown manifold over the years. Members of various Olympic contingents present inside and outside the Olympic Villages set up in various cities across the globe every four years have been collecting and trading these pins.23-time Grand Slam champion and four-time Olympic gold medalist Serena Williams happens to be one such collector as she has been collecting pins since the Sydney Games in 2000.
Williams made her Olympic debut as her elder sister Venus Williams’ doubles partner in Sydney. The duo ended up clinching the women’s doubles gold as they thrashed the Dutch pair of Kristie Boogert and Miriam Oremans 6-1, 6-1 in the final. Notably, Venus also won the singles gold at Sydney by defeating Russia’s Yelena Dementieva.Williams is currently at the 2024 Paris Olympics. Days after participating in the opening ceremony, she went pin-trading inside the Village and talked to the media about her hobby.
“I’m a first-class pin collector. It all started in Sydney. I didn’t play singles in Sydney, shockingly I didn’t qualify but I took that opportunity to trade pins. It was great, it’s where it started,” she said.
On being asked if there are pins in her collection that she’d never trade, Williams replied:
“There’s a few Thailand ones I’ll never trade. I finally was able to nab the North Korea pin in Rio. So I would never ever trade that. There’s even countries I think don’t exist anymore that did exist during Sydney. But I kind of have to go through my collection to see.”
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Serena Williams is the only player to complete Career Golden Slam in singles and doubles
Serena Williams
Serena Williams
Serena Williams is notably the only tennis player to complete the Career Golden Slam in both singles and doubles. A Career Golden Slam is the feat of winning all four Grand Slams and a gold medal at the Olympics.
Williams completed the women’s doubles Career Golden Slam fairly early in her career by winning the 2001 Australian Open alongside her sister Venus Williams. The duo had previously won the French Open and Wimbledon in 1999, Wimbledon and the Olympics in 2000, and the Australian Open in 2001. They won the doubles gold medal in 2008 and 2012 as well.In singles, Serena Williams completed the Career Grand Slam, i.e., winning all four Majors, by triumphing at the 2003 Australian Open but had to wait nine years to add Olympic gold to her singles career.She won the singles gold at the London Olympics (2012) by downing Russia’s Maria Sharapova in the summit clash, after missing Athens (2004) due to an injury and finishing fifth in Beijing (2008).
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