1976 World Figure Skating Pin: At the Scandinavium.

Last Updated on August 8, 2026 by Netropolitan Museum

A championship pin with a strong sense of place

Should there ever be a contest for the coolest-sounding name for a sports arena, “Scandinavium” might well be the winner. And the site has hosted many a winner over the decades, including those who competed at the 1976 World Figure Skating Championships in Gothenburg, Sweden, home to the Scandinavium. For collectors, the 1976 World Figure Skating Championships pin offers an especially interesting connection to the venue, incorporating not only the arena’s name but also its distinctive logo. The champions in Gothenburg included some of the sport’s most recognizable names: Dorothy Hamill, Irina Rodnina and Alexander Zaitsev, Lyudmila Pakhomova and Alexander Gorshkov, and the incomparable John Curry.

Pin Gallery: 1976 World Championships

On a gold-colored base metal, the logo pin is covered with a thick acrylic layer that sits slightly above the base. Beneath it is a design in gold and blue—colors commonly associated with Sweden—that features male and female figure skaters in a mirror pose, arms and legs stretched in close unison. But there’s more to this design element than meets the eye. Look closely at the pin, and cleverly worked into the illustration of the skaters are the letters “VM,” for “Världsmästerskap,” or “World Championships.” It is an economical bit of graphic design, but one that also gives the pin a distinctly local character. The rich blue background surrounds the skaters, while centered above them are the Three Crowns.

Around the upper portion of the pin’s circumference is the event name and date: “World Championships in Figure Skating, March 2–7, 1976.” Note that the host city name does not appear on the pin, but the Scandinavium itself is represented. The arena logo effectively identifies the location without the need for “Gothenburg” to appear anywhere in the design. Although plenty of pins have included the name or an illustration of the host facility, this may be the only pin—or one of only a few—to feature both the name and logo of the arena where the event was contested. That distinction is somewhat minimized, however, since the logo is used at such a small size that the word “Scandinavium” is rendered nearly illegible.

Of note is the fact that the 1976 World Figure Skating Championships pin has not stood the test of time from a production standpoint. It is common for the acrylic cover to have fallen off, with damage to the design beneath resulting from the adhesive used to secure the cover. The pins can exhibit anything from slight to extreme deterioration. For collectors, this is an important distinction between condition problems that are simply the result of age and those that are inherent to the way a pin was manufactured.

Also shown in the gallery is the participant medal, which features the same design as the pin, only executed in relief on a gold-colored base metal. The shared design makes the relationship between the two pieces particularly clear and provides a useful point of comparison when examining the smaller pin. There is also something appealing about seeing the same design translated into two different forms. The pin is a small, graphic souvenir intended to be worn or exchanged, while the participant medal presents essentially the same imagery as a more substantial commemorative object. Together, they provide a glimpse into how the organizers chose to establish a visual identity for the championships.

This blog was originally published at The Netropolitan Museum of Figure Skating Pins on May 29, 2021, and has been updated with new and expanded information.

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