Olympic pin collector: I get most from China

Few people has more Olympic experience than Ross Baxter, a Canadian pin-collector starting his new Olympic tour in Rio.

The 78-year-old Canadian looks young for his age. With his collections by foot, he smiles to everyone passing by, expecting any possible precious.

He has been doing that for almost 30 years.

"I was a volunteer in Calgary Winter Games," said Baxter. "I started collecting pins in 1988, and I can't stop doing that."

There is still one week before the opening of the Rio Games, so there are only a limited number of collectors appearing by the exit of MPC.

"Pin collectors, there wasn't many in Calgary, London bigger, Beijing, huge!" said Baxter, who aims to get one pin from each media and each NOC.

The Beijing Olympics is the most impressive one to Baxter. He stayed five weeks in Beijing. Two weeks for pin trading, three for walking around the city.

"The Summer Palace, the Forbidden City, the Great Wall, marvelous," Baxter said.

He expanded his collection in Beijing, and the view and food there left a great mark in his memory.

"There are many Chinese living in Canada, and there are many Chinese restaurants, but the food is not as good as that in Beijing," Baxter said.

Baxter can speak a little Chinese, but not quite enough for ordering food in Beijing.

"Many of restaurants have English menus, but more often we look at the pictures," said Baxter. "As long as we know it's beef, chicken or pork, we are OK with them."

Besides food, Baxter is a big fan of Chinese beer. "After one day of trading pins, we go for beers. Very very good Chinese beer, and not very expensive," he said.

Baxter is looking forward to more Games. Pin-collecting can bring people to many places, and he is just enjoying it.

In 2022, the Winter Olympics will be staged in Beijing, and Baxter will be 84.

"I will go to Beijing in 2022, as long as I'm alive," he said. Endit