ATHENS 2004 President Gianna Angelopoulos-Daskalaki responded as follows to a journalist’s question:
QUESTION: Mrs Angelopoulos, today is the International Olympic Day and at the same time we have the 2ï Pin Trading Event. Has the collectors’ mania started to spread to Greece little by little?
ANSWER: “The exchange of the Olympic Souvenir Pins is a very important part of every Olympic event. This is an opportunity for both collectors and non-collectors to participate in the Olympic experience. Essentially you all know the meaning of exchange. It is the way in which the spectators participate in a “unique sport” and come in contact with the world of the Olympic Games, with this Olympic experience.
Indeed, many who have participated in the Games, especially spectators and children, say that it is the Olympic product with the greatest emotional value and it is the sweetest experience of the Games -our athletes and champions who have honoured us with their presence here today are very well aware of that fact as well. And all of us who have children know that it is a real mania, which goes beyond the collectors and reaches the whole world”.
Replying to a journalist’s question Pyrros Dimas stated:
QUESTION: Mr Dimas, is it a mania?
ANSWER: “It is a mania. Personally I began with medals but turned to Pins afterwards.
The Pins’ history runs parallel to the modern Olympic Games. The first Pins, made of paper, circulated in 1896 in the first modern Olympic Games in Athens and were used as a sign of recognition for athletes, officials and journalists. Since then, their presence has been gradually established, and they have become the favourite objects of the Olympic Games for collectors”.
PRESS AND MEDIA OFFICE
