Humans of Olympics: Meet John Ioannidis, the Greek who collects, trades and sells Games’ pins

“Don’t you see what I do? I trade pins…,” says John Ioannidis as he lights up a cigarette after trading five pins with an Austrian photographer who was filming him and his collection. Positioned strategically outside the media entrance to the Olympic Park in Rio de Janeiro’s Barra neighbourhood, he will spend most weekdays during the Olympics exchanging pins with people at various venues. He turns down a sales enquiry from a curious passerby but says as soon as the interested party is out of earshot, “Maybe, at Copacabana I will sell these pins after three of four days.” Starting next week, he will head to the popular Copacabana beach on high footfall days to exchange more pins and even sell some. However, he doesn’t trade outside the Olympic venues. John has been in Rio for two months now and has found a place in Copacabana. He will stay in Rio till the Paralympic Games come to an end in September collecting, trading and selling pins. He speaks a little Portuguese, but his English is good. He engages prospective customers in a conversation in English. He starts by guessing their nationality and, more often than not, getting it spot on. The Greek from Athens proudly says he has attended seven Olympics, seven Paralympics and one Special Olympics. However, on mentioning football, he puts on a dismissive expression, he says, “It is not a nice pin for me… I only like Olympics… no football.”