Objects from Austria Winter Olympics 1964 and 1976

Both the pennant and the pin above feature the symbol for the 1964 Winter Olympics at Innsbruck: the 5 Olympics circles, with the symbol of a bridge (the bridge over the Inn gives ‘Innsbruck’ its name) underneath and Innsbruck 1964 wrapping around underneath. The combination of the Olympics rings and the bridge symbolizes the friendship between young athletes from different countries coming together at the bridge over the Inn in 1964 for the Olympics. The pennant also features the coat of arms for the state of Tyrol (the eagle with Österreich underneath, which is the German word for Austria).

The pin is an International Olympic Committee pin. At the start of modern Olympic games, three pin designs were made for the 1896 games: for judges, for athletes, and for officials. These pins became immensely popular and soon became collectibles and part of a trading culture. These pins soon became produced in a variety of manners—as propaganda, for sponsoring companies to promote themselves, to represent different sports, and to represent the competing countries. This particular pin is one that the International Olympic Committee offered. You can read more about this phenomenon in the “Olympic Pin Trading in the Inside the Crazy World of Olympic Pin Trading” article from Wired (external link).

Winter Olympics 1976

Denver, Colorado was originally awarded the 1976 Winter Olympics, but the people of Colorado voted to reject the role and the use of public funds needed to host the Games. Denver is still the only city to reject an Olympic bid, but their rejection generated important conversations over the costs of hosting the Olympics (economic and financial) and the toll it can have on the host city. You can read more about Denver’s decision and reasons for rejecting to host the Olympics in the “When Denver rejected the Olympics in favor of the environment and economics” article from The Guardian (external link). You can also read about the “Olympic curse” for host cities in the “Host City Curse” (external link) and “The Olympic Shames: Rio And Athens Sports Venues Abandoned” (external link) articles from Forbes.

However, after Denver rejected their bid, Innsbruck was awarded the Winter Olympics for the second time. Our collections have 2 commemorative pins that feature similar designs and the same image. While the emblem of the 5 Olympic circles with a symbol of a bridge remained the same from 1964 to 1976 (except that in 1976, the design became more minimalist), these pins in our collection do not feature the same emblem that the 1964 pins do. These pins seem to show an image of the “Old Town” of Innsbruck instead, which is the old town center of Innsbruck that has managed to be preserved for hundreds of years. The travel blog Travel Passionate includes a picture of the “Old Town” of Innsbruck (external link) that seems to map perfectly to the Olympic pin. Once again, these Olympic pins provide an opportunity to celebrate different aspects of a city in different and creative ways.