Medals aren’t the only thing that athletes are hoping to collect at the Milan Cortina Olympics. Gadi Schwartz got his hands on some of the coveted Olympic pins and learned how the custom has evolved over time.

With a lanyard draped around his neck and dozens of pins fastened to his jacket, Jeff Wells scans the crowd outside the pin trading center in Milan, searching for his next conversation.

It’s not about the pins, it’s about the trading. But overbearing fans, volunteers, officials and security guards – and even police – are killing the fun for athletes.

A dozen people outside a Milan metro station on Wednesday stared intently at their phones until 8 a.m., when an Instagram post provided a location. Early each morning in Milan, eager collectors have been gathering to await word of the exact spot where they can score highly prized,

Pin trading is a decade-long Olympic tradition connecting people from all over the world.