Commemorative Olympic Pin Set: Eagle on Parallel Bars, Blue Star

The Olympic Organizing Committee hired Walt Disney to design a mascot to represent Southern California, but the initial ideas were unpopular, even the brown bear, the animal featured on the California flag, given the creation of the USSR's Misha four years prior. Cartoonist Bob Moore and his team of Disney animators then designed a hybrid of Uncle Sam and the Bald Eagle, two national symbols, to represent the United States in its entirety. This star shaped pin features Sam suspending himself between parallel bars. The parallel bars event has gymnasts doing tricks while holding two long parallel bars.

The collecting and sharing of Olympic Pins have been a staple of the modern games since their inception in 1896. The souvenirs are highly sought after by both athletes, who collect and trade inside the village, and spectators who buy pins from official and fan run stores. Sponsors of the games often mass produce pins for anyone to collect as memories of the games. Coca-Cola, for example, produced multiple full pin sets for the 1984 Olympic Games in Los Angeles. Some of the unofficial mascots were also creations of companies, such as the 1972 Sapporo games and their mascot, Takuchan, created by the Seiko watch company as a bear on skis wearing a wristwatch. Pins are a small part of the overall marketing for the modern games, which now encapsulates a large merchandising operation involving overseas mass production of Olympic memorabilia.

“BBC on This Day | 8 | 1984: Moscow Pulls out of US Olympics.” BBC News, May 8, 1984. http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/may/8/newsid_2518000/2518931.stm.

Edwards, Joe. “How the 1984 Olympics Paved the Way for the 2028 Los Angeles Games.” Newsweek, August 11, 2024. https://www.newsweek.com/1984-olympics-los-angeles-2028-summer-games-1936817.

Kurlander, David. “‘An Ungainly Parrot’: Disney, Sam the Eagle, and Capital at the 1984 Los
Angeles Olympics.” CAFE, August 12, 2021. https://cafe.com/article/an-ungainly-parrot/.

“Los Angeles 1984 Olympic Mascots - Photos and History.” Olympics, 2021.
https://www.olympics.com/en/olympic-games/los-angeles-1984/mascot.

“Los Angeles 1984 Summer Olympics - Athletes, Medals & Results.” Olympics, 2021.
https://www.olympics.com/en/olympic-games/los-angeles-1984.

McCleary, Chase. “Sam the Eagle: U.S. Olympic & Paralympic Hall of Fame.” United States
Olympic & Paralympic Museum, 2021. https://usopm.org/sam-the-eagle/.

“Official Report of the Games of the XXIIIrd Olympiad Los Angeles, 1984.” AAFLA. Los Angeles
Olympic Organizing Committee, 2007. Los Angeles Olympic Organizing Committee. https://web.archive.org/web/20070604235104/http://www.aafla.com/6oic/OfficialReports/1984/1984v1.pdf.

Osterwalder, Markus. “Los Angeles 1984 – Mascot Sam.” theolympicdesign, 2023.
https://www.theolympicdesign.com/olympic-games/mascots/los-angeles-1984/.

Osterwalder, Markus. “Sapporo 1972 – Takuchan (Unofficial Mascot).” theolympicdesign, 2023. https://www.theolympicdesign.com/olympic-games/mascots/sapporo-1972/.

Surbano, Eric E. “The History behind the Tradition of Olympic Pin Trading.” Prestige, August 8, 2024. https://www.prestigeonline.com/hk/lifestyle/culture-plus-entertainment/olympic-pins-paris-2024-trading-collecting/.

Whelliston, Kyle. “Swifter Higher: Meet the Mascots: Waldi (Munich 1972).” Swifter, Higher, July 8, 2008. https://web.archive.org/web/20100308075540/http://swifterhigher.com/2008/07/meet-the-mascots-waldi-munich.php.