CORTINA D'AMPEZZO, Italy (AP) — Before U.S. skier Lindsey Vonn's startling crash on Sunday while racing on a badly injured left knee, Iran's Alpine women's skiing coach shared words of admiration for the American.
“She's my superhero,” Mitra Kalhor told The Associated Press in the Cortina Olympic and Paralympic Village on Thursday.
Kalhor's comment underscored the Olympics as a place of camaraderie, where bitterness between governments like the U.S.
and Iran is often of little relevance. That conviviality is likewise shown by athletes trading national team pins, a popular and beloved Olympic tradition.
“I would love to get a pin from Lindsey Vonn,” Kalhor said, noting she met the three-time Olympic medalist previously at the world championships.
Kalhor said Sunday that her heart broke when Vonn crashed, and called her “super strong.”
Pin trading dates back to the first modern Olympic Games, revived by Pierre de Coubertin in 1896. Athletes are proudly wearing lanyards displaying pins from other teams and show them off on social media.
At the top of Cortina’s Olympia delle Tofane course, where Vonn raced in the women’s downhill on Sunday, skiers on Friday swapped pins while fog delayed their training runs.
Just as Kalhor would love a pin from Vonn, many have been coveting Kalhor’s Iran pins; she started with about 30, and by Thursday was almost out. Iranians are scarce — their team has just four athletes, only one in Cortina.
Kalhor said she has been shocked that everyone is hunting for a pin from a nation that has never won a Winter Games medal.
“All the countries came to us— ‘It is possible to change the pins’? For me, it was really interesting because I never thought somebody would like to get it, or somebody would change the pin with my flag, but it was very nice,” she said. “The people were so excited.”
On Tuesday, American bobsledder Boone Niederhofer set out on a mission to find Iranian skier Sadaf Savehshemshaki. Niederhofer told the AP he was specifically seeking the Iranian pin because of its rarity.
“It’s a way to interact with people who you might not otherwise,” Niederhofer said while walking through the athletes' village.
But he didn't locate Savehshemshaki. And, as of Sunday morning, he still hadn't found an Iranian to trade with.
There are other prized pins in Cortina, and the athletes' village is the hub for their exchange. China’s are admired for their beauty and variety; the team brought three designs showing a Chinese panda with the Olympic mascot Tina. A Netherlands pin featuring tiny clogs is esteemed for its uniqueness. Many athletes sought pins from countries with small delegations, like the Philippines.
Even before the Games officially began, Kailey Allan’s crossbody bag was covered in pins. She is competing for Canada in the inaugural women’s doubles luge at the Olympics, and her team pin shows a moose on a luge sled.
It’s easy to do, she said. First, she introduces herself. They talk about their sports and journeys to the Olympics, then make the trade.
Pin-swapping isn’t just for athletes and coaches, either; Olympic staff, volunteers, journalists and collectors get in on the craze, asking those they meet, “Do you have a pin for me?”
American luge athlete Sophia Kirkby posted videos on social media from a pottery studio before the Olympics, as she made hundreds of pins herself. Hers highlight women in sport with athletes in ponytails.
“Everyone wants a pin and it’s crazy how it’s a currency here,” she said during a press conference Friday. “I feel like the pin trading queen because essentially what I did was, I came to the Olympics and I brought my own currency.”
On Thursday, the AP spotted Iran's Kalhor at an outdoor coffee stand, a popular gathering spot in the athletes' village.
Walking back to her room, she was stopped by an Italian security guard who wanted a pin. It was her very last one, but she gave it to him all the same, even though he didn't have any to trade.
She said she was “super happy” that all her pins were gone so early in the Games; it showed that everyone loved them.
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AP Winter Olympics coverage: https://apnews.com/hub/milan-cortina-2026-winter-olympics
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