Some of the items from Jin De Silva's collection
include pins from the 1936 Olympics in Berlin,
his favorite year because it marked his hero
Jesse Owens' four gold-medal win.

By Nadine Kam
Assistant Features Editor
Star-Bulletin

By the time the snow melts in Nagano, the 1998 Winter Olympics will fade into the realm of past glories. The games may end, but for Jin De Silva, the spirit of the Olympics lives daily.

The 70-year-old Diamond Head resident has amassed a collection of some 10,000 Olympics-related items since he picked up his first Olympic pins 54 years ago.

He's not alone in his passion. Other collectors tend to specialize in one particular category of wares, official Olympic Committee-issue items, or items issued by corporate sponsors, but De Silva has never been that picky. His collection runs the gamut of stamps, books, ash trays, ties, scarves, ceramic plates, glassware, silver spoons, T-shirts, steins, towels -- you name it.

He has posters and programs dating from the first modern Olympics held in 1896 in Athens, Greece, as well as some advance publicity pieces for the 2004 games which will return to Athens.

He's traveled to many a collectors' convention where he's met lawyers and judges who are just as wild about the Olympics as he is.

"I'm the poorest," he said, "But my collection is very, very valuable -- not in dollars, but in the Olympic spirit.

"Some collectors buy and sell, but I have never sold. I feel that someday my collection should be in a museum where future generations will see it and be encouraged to participate in the games."

His interest in the Olympics date to his teen years, when he was a track and field star in his native Sri Lanka. He was watching the games on TV in 1948, when American Roy Cochran finished the 400-meter hurdle race in 51.1 seconds. De Silva said his own time for the race was about 51-52 seconds, but it didn't do him any good in Sri Lanka, when the games were in London.

"Our country was not like America. We were a poor country. We never had sponsors and never had the opportunity to participate."

De Silva stopped running in the early '60s when he said he had reached the point "where you must think of your stomach and start making a living."

He studied welding technology and in the early '70s he moved with his wife and two children to Melbourne, Australia, where he worked for Ford Motor Co. He moved to Hawaii in 1979. Here, he found a bonanza of 30 former Olympians, including two-time gold and one-time silver medalist in weightlifting, Tamio "Tommy" Kono; hurdler Harrison Dillard; and discus thrower Al Oerter.

"It was so very interesting to meet all these athletes who at the time I was hero worshiping," De Silva said.

Since then, he's often been invited to show his collection at schools and shopping malls during Olympic years. Pieces from his collection traveled to the Olympic Museum in Switzerland in 1993.

His biggest exhibition locally took place at Aloha Tower in 1996, when the summer games were held in Atlanta and 10 Hawaii athletes were chosen to participate in the 15,000-mile Olympic Torch Relay across America. De Silva was given a retail space which he easily filled with memorabilia.

He also had an exhibition in Atlanta when the bombing incident took place. His first concern was not for his own safety, but that of his collection.

"When the bomb went off I ran to see if my items were still there."

In Atlanta, De Silva won a silver medal of his own for his "Centennial Collectibles Memorabilia" display, which he says fulfills his Olympic dream.

"You see, I have this medal. Nobody can buy this, just like you can't buy a gold medal ... Of course, if I could have Carl Lewis' gold medal I would be very happy."

De Silva has been to every summer game since the Los Angeles games in 1984, skipping the winter games because he can't take the cold weather. But you can be sure he's watching the athletes every night on TV. And he's already making plans for the millennial games in Sydney, Australia, and the 2004 games in Athens.

"That's what I'm aiming for for," he said. "I'd love to see the Olympics in the venue and country that originated the games."