Ron Finnigan and his pin collection create a stir in Beijing. (Simon Dingley/CBC)

Ron Finnigan knows his opponents at this Olympics will be tough — tougher than those at any of the past Olympics at which he's competed.

Now 46 years old, he's heard the footsteps. They're younger, hungrier, all chasing the same prize as him. Finnigan admits he's thought of packing it in, but the lure of one more Games, one more shot at glory in an exotic locale he'd never seen, was too much to walk away from.

He concedes the Beijing experience will cost him about $3,000. But he's addicted; he can't give up his sport.

You see, he says, few people understand the thrill of collecting Olympic pins. Finnigan now owns more than 5,000 of them, most from media outlets that cover and broadcast the Games.

So on Sunday, Finnigan boarded a 13-hour flight from Toronto to Beijing, leaving his wife, Marjorie Prentice, and two children behind in Burlington, Ont. "My wife thinks I should be committed," he admits.

Finnigan's sister-in-law, Mary-Ellen Prentice, is along for the ride, travelling with him to Beijing. She says her sister Marjorie had no idea how dedicated he was before she married him.

"He kept it quiet from her," she says. "He didn't reveal his obsession. It's all-consuming for him."

Hooked on pins

Finnigan, an engineer by profession, started pin trading at the Los Angeles Summer Games in 1984. After that, he was hooked: Calgary in 1988; Barcelona in 1992; Atlanta four years later; Salt Lake City and Torino following that.

The pursuit of the perfect pin keeps him going. "When you get it, there's a sense of fulfillment and completion," he says.

Ron Finnigan poses with his prized pin collection in front of Beijing's Bird's Nest stadium. (Simon Dingley/CBC)

The backpack Finnigan carries in Beijing weighs about 14 kilograms. He's stuffed it with about 2,000 pins he can use for trades.

Hundreds of other collectors will also be in Beijing, all looking to swap their pins for rare ones. Many deals are made at pin-trading centres at Olympic sites, and there are two such sites at the Beijing Games.

Like an NHL general manager, Finnigan will be wheeling and dealing. And he takes it seriously, going to bed early in order to be in peak shape for the start of the trading day at around 8 a.m.

Finnigan's massive pin collection focuses on broadcasters. "It has to have the host's name," he says. "I look for CBC, TSN (The Sports Network) and RDI (Réseau de l'information) ."

These pins are rarely sold to the public. They're usually made specifically for TV networks, which make several for each Games and give them to staff. Former CBCers Brian Williams, Ted Reynolds and the late Don Wittman have all contributed pins free of charge to Finnigan's collection.

Finnigan owns between 700 and 800 CBC pins alone. "The CBC pin is very desirable. Everybody loves Canada," he says.

Watch out for scams

His prize collectible is a bauble from the Grenoble Olympics in France in 1968. It was issued by the host organizing committee. Pins from national Olympic committees, such as the Canadian Olympic Committee, also make up some of his collection.

This year, pins from Japan's NHK network, TV Tokyo and the CBC's Beijing pin are among the most sought-after.

But Finnigan warns inexperienced pin traders can be victimized while seeking a gold-medal trade.

"One thing you have to watch for is [the] knock-off pin," he says. "We call them dealers. One guy makes up fantasy pins. They look like the real thing."

Finnigan doubts he'll ever sell his collection, because he feels he'd only get a fraction of what it's worth. So he'll keep collecting.

After Beijing, he'll head back to Canada and start planning for the Vancouver Winter Olympics.

"I already have a lot of 2010 pins," he says.