PARIS - Santa Monica native Vivianne Robinson has been watching the Olympic games for four decades now, but now she's taking her love for Olympics to a new height.
Robinson’s passion began early on when she and her mother attended the 1984 Olympics in Los Angeles and decided to start collecting pins. Including Paris, she has been to seven Olympics in the span of 40 years, in Los Angeles (1984), Atlanta (1996), Sydney (2000), Athens (2004), London (2012), and Rio (2016).
Since the London Olympics in 2012, Robinson has dressed up for and attended all of the summer Olympic games. She had a different outfit for London, then wore the same outfit for both Rio and Paris.
“I made my outfit everything Paris with as many Eiffel Towers as I could, a few French flags, American flags, of course the Phryges, the mascot of the Olympics, and little charms of the Eiffel Towers everywhere,” Robinson said. “It took a long time to put together, but I think people are having fun with it.”
Because of Robinson’s unique, decorative outfits, she attracts a lot of attention from the media and from public figures.
ABC7 Los Angeles published an article about her about a week ago, where they asked her about how she paid for this year’s Olympics. Robinson mentioned she worked two jobs and had to max out her credit cards in order to travel to Paris and pay for the 38 events she bought tickets to.
Robinson has posted pictures on her Instagram, “Olympic Superfan,” of her posing with various journalists, Olympians, random spectators, police officers and even a French politician.
Robinson is glad Paris hosted the Olympics because the city is full of beautiful surroundings. She stood on the street of the Avenue des Champs-Élysées and gestured in either direction.
“Look at the atmosphere,” she said. “You got the Arc de Triomphe on one side, the Place de la Concorde on the other. And you just can't beat it, having a double whammy with the Olympics in such a beautiful city.”
This Olympics superfan is one of many Olympics spectators with unique stories. Robinson plans on saving up to attend as many Olympic games as she can, although she is slightly disappointed the next summer Olympics will be held in her home city.
“I don’t get to go anywhere,” Robinson said. “That’s the only bad part. I got stuck at home, but that’s okay. I’ll save some money, I guess. I have to pay off this trip anyway.”
