The weird and wonderful world of Olympic pin trading in Italy, featuring Snoop Dogg and shocking behaviour towards athletes

LIVIGNO: Pin trading was once a wholesome pursuit shared by athletes as a way to bond through their Olympic Games experience and come home with a cool memento. It still is, to a point.

But it has also grown into a beast that has almost taken over every venue at the Winter Games. At least in Livigno. Event staff, volunteers and even police officers are hungry for pins. They hound athletes for them, with several sharing stories about being asked for a pin in the bathroom or when they're getting on a ski lift during training.

The behaviour of pin seekers outside the athlete bubble is almost always brazen and sometimes outrageous.

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Speaking to Wide World of Sports and The Sydney Morning Herald journalist Vince Rugari after a halfpipe training session last week, gun Aussie snowboarder Val Guseli gave a glimpse into the wild west of pin trading.

"Last night before going and competing all the coppers were like asking for pins, I was like, 'C'mon'," Guseli said, referencing the lead-up to his big air final.

Minutes before speaking to Guseli about his attitude to pin trading (he is a fan and complained to the Australian team media liaison about not having enough Australian team pins to get aggressive in the marketplace), Wide World of Sports witnessed his teammate Misaki Vaughan being hassled by a volunteer for pins immediately after her final run of a training session.

From day one, journalists like this correspondent have been asked for pins while entering the venue, with security staff seemingly more interested in bolstering their collection than searching bags. Athletes have spoken about concealing pins as they've arrived at venues, fearful that they'll be asked to hand some over by someone who can make life difficult for them if they don't agree.

It's a baffling downside to a pursuit that is supposed to lighten up the athletes' experience of the Olympic Games, which can obviously be intense. It has been going on for many Olympiads, with the athletes' Olympic committees creating the marketplace for the trades by bringing out a new pin to represent their nation at each summer and winter games.

Watch the Winter Olympic Games Milano Cortina 2026 live and free on Channel 9 and 9Now. Plus, every event live & on demand, every medal in 4K, and exclusive international coverage on Stan Sport.

At Milano Cortina 2026, the Australian team pin features the Australian flag, the Italian flag and a boxing kangaroo. It's a cool design but by no means the most sought after at the Games. That prize goes to Saudi Arabia, which has sent its two competing athletes to the Games with pins made from white gold. The Dutch team pin, featuring a pair of orange clogs, is also popular.

Wide World of Sports understands that every Australian athlete is given eight of their home country pins, with that haul giving them some currency to make trades with athletes from other nations.

Almost every Olympic athlete is into pin trading on some level. Some ask staff on their team to provide them with dozens of them, so they can do two-for-one or even three-for-one trades if they find someone with a pin they're desperate to add to their collection.

"I haven't really done it as much the last two Games but at Youth Olympics I went crazy," Australian snowboarder Emily Arthur said.

"It was a big thing at Youth Olympics so it's fun to bring it back.

"The clogs were a hot commodity, from the Netherlands I think it was. Everyone wanted those.

"Canada has some really nice ones but then I saw, apparently Saudi have a crazy one, it's like white gold or something, so they have a good one. And then obviously like Brazil I feel like would be a cool one to get."

Arthur confirmed she only engages with other athletes but "the volunteers want it for sure".

Their popularity outside the athlete bubble has turned pins into a literal form of currency that can be used to buy favours.

Australian team staff have confirmed that they use them to get on the good side of venue staff, particularly those who can provide them with something of value in return. Want an earlier practice time for an athlete? A couple of pins can sort it. How about a hot chocolate to bring to the media mixed zone as a peace offering for an agitated journalist? A pin can sweeten that deal too.

Even Snoop Dogg has got into the act. At the moguls venue in Livigno last week, on the day Jakara Anthony won gold in the dual moguls, Wide World of Sports got talking to a venue official about pins. He pulled out his accreditation lanyard and revealed two rare pins that hadn't previously been spotted - one featured the Death Row Records logo, Snoop Dogg's label. The other featured the image of Snoop wearing a Team USA jacket, arms outstretched, in front of an American flag. The words Milan Cortina are scrawled at the bottom.

This Italian media wrangler, as it turned out, had got chatting to the rapper and Olympic Games fanatic when he was in Livigno to watch the women's snowboard halfpipe final. The topic turned to pins and Snoop offered the security guard a couple of his own rare baubles.

Apparently Snoop Dogg was even generous enough to give the official several 'Death Row Records' pins, so he could keep one and use the others for trades.

This correspondent was offered the opportunity to trade some pins for a Snoop Dogg pin but sadly hadn't got deep enough into the craze to be able to make the transaction fair.

The young Italian man, a clear fan of American rap, couldn't believe his luck when he not only got to meet Snoop but also got a gift that, judging by the frenzy that surrounds pin trading, may be even more valuable than a gold medal in this part of the world right now.

The moguls attendant may be the biggest winner of Milano Cortina 2026.