'Worth It': Olympics Superfan Spent $10,000 to Get to Paris
'Worth It': Olympics Superfan Spent $10,000 to Get to Paris
01:59
2024年8月3日 00:15
説明
Covered with pins and adornments, Vivianne Robinson is hard to miss in the streets of Paris. The Olympics superfan has attended seven Summer Games over 40 years. But this trip to Paris came at a cost of $10,000. Robinson, 66 and from Los Angeles, maxed out her credit cards and worked two jobs to afford the trip and the 38 event tickets she bought. And she has to work two more years to make up the money she spent. "It was hard to save up and it's a big budget, but it's a thousand times worth it," she says. Robinson's fascination with the Olympics started when her mother worked as a translator for athletes during the 1984 Olympics in Los Angeles. Her mother would come home after work with pins from athletes that she gave to her daughter. Her hobby of collecting pins led her to Atlanta 1996, where she made rice necklaces for athletes in exchange for their pins. "I got all the pins and I got to meet all the athletes. And in those days, it wasn't high security like now," she said. "Now you can't even get near the athletes' village." From there: Sydney 2000, Athens 2004, London 2012 and Rio 2016. She got a visa for Beijing 2008, but couldn't afford the trip. It was similar for Tokyo: she bought tickets, but got refunded as COVID-19 soared and the Games were held without spectators. Robinson's outfits started simply but have become more complex over time. She spent a year working on her Paris outfit, which has hundreds of adornments. People often stop her in the street, asking for a photo. As soon as these Olympics end, she will start working on the next Summer Games — which will be in her hometown in Los Angeles. "I'm going to do it forever," she said. "I'm going to save all my money and just concentrate on Olympics."
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