AMAZING: This man has 12,000 Olympic pins

Rio de Janeiro: They may not be as vast as philately, but collecting Olympic pins is a big area of interest in the Summer Games. Joan Marantz, 71, and his wife Sidney Marantz have made this pin collection their passion since Montreal Olympics in 1976 and have been to 16 Games, including Winter Olympics, in total. Each time at the Olympics, they will come and display their collection and trade new pins and at the last count, the Los Angeles-based businessman has more than 12,000 pins at his home. "I've a huge case where I keep all my pins. If I put it on display then my whole house would be full of pins and my wife won't let me do that," Marantz said. Accredited as showcasing team, the duo are part of about a dozen of likeminded people from the USA, Canada and other countries. A fan of Olympics Games since he toured Rome in 1960 with his father, Marantz fell in love with pin collection in 1976. "We went to Melbourne with the family. There we're told by our tour group that people exchange pins. It's a tradition. So it all began there," he said. Olympics came to his home town in 1984 and that's when his collection received a huge boost. "We were involved with the organising committee and traded a lot. We got a lot of pins. Ever since we have been training at each Olympic Games." "Olympics brings the whole world together and make us forget about the trouble in the period. At least in theory, the whole world comes together, competing with each other and making friends, leaving the problems of real world behind," he said. "Hope I make it to Tokyo 2020," he signed off.