The real competition of the Olympic Games is heating up.
By
Stephanie Livaudais
Published Jul 31, 2024
No matter how the rest of her 2024 Paris Olympics journey goes, Coco Gauff is already the biggest winner at the Games.
The Olympic “pin games”, that is.
The American may have just taken the lead in the Olympic Games’ unofficial favorite competition, as her pin collection recently got a major boost with help from rapper Snoop Dogg. Snoop, who has been living his best life in Paris after taking part in everything from the Olympic torch relay to watching the tennis competition with Billie Jean King, had a message for Gauff after her second-round win over Argentina’s Maria Lourdes Carle.
Read More: How’s this for a doubles team? Billie Jean King and Snoop Dogg take in tennis at the Paris Olympics
“Hey Coco, it’s big Snoop Dogg. Got something for you, beautiful,” he said in a video shared to social media, as he unveiled his custom Olympic pin while wearing a ‘Coco Gauff’ shirt. “This is for you. Great game today. Go USA.”
The pin features the rapper blowing Olympic-colored smoke rings with the Eiffel Tower in the background, and it instantly became one of the most coveted collectables in the Olympic Village.
Coco Gauff’s got the @SnoopDogg #Olympics pin 🤩#Paris2024 | #tennis pic.twitter.com/W6zRDFoeae
— ITF (@ITFTennis) July 29, 2024
Gauff, with a huge grin and still in her match kit, took to Instagram Stories to show off her latest acquisition: “Hey Mr. Snoop, thank you for this pin! This is the best pin that I’ve ever gotten… I hope to see you at US Open.”
With one of the most sought-after pins at the 2024 Games now in her collection, did Gauff just take the lead in the pin game? The art of collecting Olympic memorabilia is a tradition that goes back to the very first modern games in Athens in 1896, both as a fun way for athletes to pass time and also to foster camaraderie among competing nations.
But for hardcore collectors, it’s an Olympic sport all on its own. Each country’s National Olympic Committee has their own unique pins, as well as do sponsors, media, public figures, and more. The fewer athletes that a country sends to the Games, the rarer that pin becomes.
Caroline Wozniacki (center) showed off her growing collection, while Andy Murray obtained one of the most-coveted pins in Paris.
Caroline Wozniacki (center) showed off her growing collection, while Andy Murray obtained one of the most-coveted pins in Paris.
© Instagram @cocogauff, @carowozniacki, @andymurray
Known ‘pinhead’ Andy Murray, for example, had his sights set on snagging one from Romano Puentener, Liechtenstein’s sole representative at this year’s Games—as Laura Robson hilariously revealed this week in an interview.
“His one (target) for this week… there’s one athlete from Liechtenstein, and he was searching the village, high and low, to try to find this poor man,” Robson recalled.
“He tracked him down, he’s got it, and it was like he had won the Olympic gold. Honestly, he came in and was showing everyone, ‘Look what I’ve got!’”
Murray, who put out a message to all Olympic athletes saying that he wanted to collect “all the pins from every country,” also scored a coveted custom pin of his own too: American gymnast Simone Biles’ personal custom pin, acquired with the help of British gymnast Becky Downie.
Queen of tennis.
Queen of pins.
Serena dominated the Olympic world on the court for decades, and off the court, she was dominating the pin swap game too.
A collection that dates back to Sydney 2000 has been growing back home and she’s still on the hunt for more at… pic.twitter.com/JFBmOW5N3C
— The Olympic Games (@Olympics) July 28, 2024
Current and former players like Serena Williams and Caroline Wozniacki have also made it their mission this week to add to their massive haul of Olympic memorabilia.
The Dane showed off her crowded lanyard on Instagram Stories featuring pins from Cuba, Monaco, Angola and more, while Williams talked through her “first-class” collection dating back to the 2000 Games.
PHOTOS: Rafael Nadal, Serena Williams, Amelie Mauresmo carry Olympic torch at Opening Ceremony
“I’m a first-class pin collector. It all started in Sydney,” Williams said. “There’s a few Thailand ones I would never trade. I finally was able to nab the North Korea pin in Rio, and so I would never, ever trade that one.
“There are even countries that I think don’t exist anymore that did exist during Sydney, so I would never trade those.”
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