Poland Tier 3 NOC Pin used by the Poland Olympic Committee for both the 1976 Winter Olympic Games held in Innsbruck, Austria and the 1976 Summer Olympic Games held in Montreal, Canada. Please see the scan for the actual pin on auction. This pin has a straight pin pin-back, 15mm X 25mm, and is a cloisonne on copper type. There are 2 listed. One has a very straight pin and the other is a little crooked. I always leave the straightening to the buyer. Note: As always, I will include a mint Olympic pin free in appreciation for your purchase. Please visit my store for hundreds of pins from other Olympics. If you buy 1 or 100 pins from my auctions or store, shipping will only be $1.25 to any world wide address.
Tier?-In the 1970s Poland and East Germany, among others, invited their most talented young athletes to central locations (state sports academies) to compete for places on the National Olympic Teams. It was a head to head selection process through a series of cuts, much like baseball tryout camps or Spring training in Major League Baseball. Tier 1 would be for all participants, tier 2 would be those who made the 1st cut similar to the Rookie League, up through A ball, AA ball, AAA ball, and finally Tier 5 would be members of the Olympic Team (Welcome to the bigs!). Although the higher tiers are the rarest because there were fewer made, these were produced in very limited numbers compared to normal NOC pins. These pins were actually presented to the athletes at each level as a reward for their efforts.
1976 Innsbruck-The 1976 Winter Olympics were awarded to the U.S. city of Denver, but the people of the state of Colorado voted to prohibit public funds from being used to support the Games. Innsbruck stepped in and hosted the Games only 12 years after its last Olympics. Rosi Mittermaier won two of the three Alpine skiing events and almost became the first woman to sweep all three events. But in the final race, Kathy Kreiner beat her by 12 hundredths of a second. The ice hockey team from the USSR won its fourth straight gold medal. A new figure skating event, ice dancing, was added to the program and, like the pairs, it was dominated by Russian couples. The most memorable image of the Games was Franz Klammer flying wildly down the downhill course, barely keeping control, on his way to a gold medal.
1976 Montreal-The 1976 Montreal Games were marred by an African boycott to protest the fact that the national rugby team of New Zealand had toured South Africa and New Zealand was scheduled to compete in the Olympics. Women’s events were included for the first time in basketball, rowing and team handball. Fourteen-year-old gymnast Nadia Comaneci of Romania caused a sensation when, for her performance on the uneven bars, she was awarded the first-ever perfect score of 10.0. She eventually earned seven 10.0s. On the men’s side, Japan’s Shun Fujimoto broke his leg while completing his floor exercises routine. The Japanese team was engaged in a close contest with the Soviet Union, so Fujimoto kept his injury secret. But when he dismounted from the rings, he dislocated his knee and was forced to withdraw. The Japanese women’s volleyball team won all their matches in straight sets, and in only one of fifteen games did an opponent score in double figures. Individual stars included Klaus Dibiasi of Italy, who won his third straight gold medal in platform diving; Viktor Saneyev of Soviet Georgia, who won his third triple jump gold; and Irena Szewinska of Poland, winner of the 400m run, who brought her career total to seven medals - in five different events. Alberto Juantorena of Cuba put together the first 40m-800m double victory. Miklos Németh of Hungary won the javelin throw to become the first son of an athletics gold medalist to win a gold of his own. His father, Imre, had won the hammer throw in 1948. Clarence Hill of Bermuda earned a bronze medal in boxing’s super-heavyweight division to give Bermuda the honor of being the least populous nation (53,500) ever to win a medal in the Summer Olympics.
Poland-Poland is an ancient nation that was conceived near the middle of the 10th century. Its golden age occurred in the 16th century. During the following century, the strengthening of the gentry and internal disorders weakened the nation. In a series of agreements between 1772 and 1795, Russia, Prussia, and Austria partitioned Poland among themselves. Poland regained its independence in 1918 only to be overrun by Germany and the Soviet Union in World War II. It became a Soviet satellite state following the war, but its government was comparatively tolerant and progressive. Labor turmoil in 1980 led to the formation of the independent trade union "Solidarity" that over time became a political force and by 1990 had swept parliamentary elections and the presidency. An economic program during the early 1990s enabled the country to transform its economy into one of the most robust in Central Europe. Poland is located in Central Europe, east of Germany. The land area is 304,465 sq km and the 2005 population was 38,635,144.
Shipping Notes:Buy as many of my individual pins as you want, either from auction or from my eBay Store, and shipping will only be $1.25 to any world-wide address. This is a great chance to stock up on pins of interest for a fraction of the normal total cost. Some pin sets and collections are excluded from the offer. Insurance to CONUS address is optional. International Orders: I keep all shipping receipts and Customs Forms to prove the items were shipped. Please understand that it can take weeks to receive a package in another country.
Please pardon my poor scan. All my pins are much more detailed and colorful than my washed out or dark scans. Please see my other Olympic items on eBay and save by combining shipping. Happy collecting!
On Dec-16-07 at 08:51:22 PST, seller added the following information:
Track up to 10 items on this computer in 
)
