Olympic Mascots
A Mascot Retrospective that defines "agony of defeat"
Below is a look at all the "mascots" from the summer and winter olympic games. As you might expect, most of them are really lame and are just begging for comments, so please feel free to leave your thoughts at the bottom of the page.
Torino, 2006
Neve and Glitz
"Neve" is a gentle, kind and elegant snowball; "Gliz" is a lively, playful ice cube. Together they are the sympolic characters of the XX Olympic Winter Games. That is the exact text stolen from their www site. Snowball? Ice cube? Sounds like a dumbed down version of the wonder twins. And is it just me, or does "he" have a marshmellow for a head and not and ice cube? Please go away.
Athens, 2004
Athena and Phevos
That's Athena on the left and Phevos on the right. Their design is based off an ancient Greek doll dating back to the 7th century and appear to have elephant feet like Strongsad from www.Homestarrunner.com.
Salt Lake, 2002
Hare, Coyote, Bear
These three guys are apparently straight out of Native American folklore according to the site from which i am stealing all my information (come on, you didn't really think i just knew all this stuff) They represent the 3 elements of the Olympic motto: citius, altius, fortius. To me they look like they came from Madison Avenue folklore and represent the motto: market and sell.
Sydney, 2000
Olly, Syd and Millie
From left to right we got a kookaburra, a platypus and a echidna. Now if you're like me, you have no idea what two of those animals are. But hey, we are dealing with Australia here so you had to expect something a little off the norm. So, rather than ask, lets just move on and pretend we know what they all are.
Nagano, 1998
Snow Owls : Kukki, Nokki, Lekki and Tsukki
This group of mascots is my favorite by far. Now i'm going to make some assumptions here, but i would bet that somebody's parents over there in Japan are very proud of their 4 year olds ability to sew.
Atlanta, 1996
Izzy
For as cool at the snow owls were, Izzy is dumb. My little sister and i went to the ATL games, and this annoying thing was everywhere. My favorite part about this whole disaster of a mascot was how its designers tried to explain how Izzy could morph from one sporting character into another and that made him "cool". uhhh, doubt it. Thank goodness for 1992 and the snow imp. (see below)
Lillehammer, 1994
Haakon and Kristin
In the history of Olympic Mascots, Haakon and Kristin were original in that they were the first humanoid mascots. They also proved to be quite cost effective in that you could pretty much throw a green and orange sweater on any two Norwegian locals and pass them off as "officially licensed products". Could we get any more stereotypical? Hitler would want his kids to have a pair of these.
Barcelona, 1992
Cobi
Nationally famous cartoonist Javier Mariscal designed Cobi the dog, probably during one of those siesta "free time" sessions, and according to the site from which i am stealing all this info, Cobi went on to be known as the most successful Olympic Mascots ever. Uhh, congratulations - now go take another nap and then complain about how Portugal is really just a renegade province.
Albertville, 1992
Magique, the French snow imp
Originally the mascot was a mountain goat named Chamois, but the peeps over there didn't like it so they changed it to... a snow imp. No really, i'm serious... a snow imp. They went from something reasonable like a goat, to a snow imp. Heck, a '62 Impala sounds reasonable compared to a snow imp. He looks like the Hardees logo in a goofy snowsuit.
Seoul, 1988
Hodori
Asia, Tiger... now this make since. I bet the Koreans sold 40 million of these things! Why wouldn't the French take note of that? They really should have stuck with the goat. Goats, Mountains, Winter Olympics... come on. But a snow imp? He looks like a poorly attired garden gnome. At least put him in a good looking suit. You're the French - you're supposed to at least be good at that.
Calgary, 1988
Hidi and Howdy
Maybe i was in the middle of exam week or something, but i really don't remember anything from these games other than those Canadians built themselves a giant stadium in the shape of a saddle.
Los Angeles, 1984
Sam the Eagle
From the very start, Sam was built to sell. The organizers of the 1984 games had hired Walt Disney Productions to come up with designs, and Sam the Bald Eagle was the result. While he sort of looks cheesy now, I was a little kid at the time and remember him being pretty cool. (That and the fact that "jet man" showed up during the opening ceremonies. I so wanted one of those contraptions.)
Sarajevo, 1984
Vucko
This little wolf beat out a chipmunk, a lamb, a mountain goat (gee, what's wrong with mountain goats? am i missing something?), a porcupine and a snowball. Personally i would have liked to see the snowball win just because it would have been so different, but the wolf isn't bad. He does sort of look like midget Wyle E. Coyote.
Moscow, 1980
Misha
From here on down i really don't remember much about any mascots (in 1980 i was in the 2nd grade)... so i will be totally relying on information i find on the www. Anyway, Misha was created when the Russians locked some dude named Chizikov in a closet with a pencil and paper. After letting him out 6 months later, the commies had themselves over 100 variations of Misha to choose from.
Lake Placid, 1980
Roni the Raccoon
If it wasn't for espn classic, i would not even known that Lake Placid existed. How sad is that? Anyway, Roni's original name was Rocky, but there was pressure to change it due to the success of a particular movie of the same name.
Montreal, 1976
Amik
Here is something i didn't know, the beaver is to Canada as the bald eagle is to the United States. Speaking of which, don't bald eagles occasionally mix in a beaver or two with their fish diet? Someone please follow up on this for me.
Innsbruck, 1976
Schneemann
Now while google tells me that "Schneemann" is German for snowman, this guy looks a little freakish to me. Where's the torso? Anyway, the Germans were onto something in that this was the first marketed mascot. He appeared as a plush toy that you could buy pretty much anywhere at the games.
Munich, 1972
Waldi
As the first Olympic mascot, Waldi is where it all began. He is a long-haired dachshund whose stripes are the same colors as the Olympic rings. Seeing how I was born in December of 1971, that's all i got on the weiner dog - sorry.
