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The Olympic mascot is a character, usually an animal native to the area or occasionally human figures, who represents the cultural heritage of the place where the Olympic Games are taking place. Since the 1968 Winter Olympics in Grenoble, France the Olympic Games have had a mascot. The first major mascot in the Olympic Games was Misha in the 1980 Summer Olympics in Moscow. Misha was used extensively during the opening and closing ceremonies, had a TV animated cartoon and appeared on several merchandise products. Nowadays, most of the merchandise aimed at young people focuses on the mascots, rather than the Olympic flag or organization logos.

List of mascots

Olympics	City	Mascot	Character	Designer	Significance	Picture
1968 Winter Olympics	Grenoble	Schuss	Stylized skier	Mme Lafargue
1968 Summer Olympics	Mexico City	El Tigre Rojo de Chichen-Itza	red jaguar		Based on a throne in the shape of a red jaguar in the "El Castillo" pyramid at Chichen Itzá.
		Paloma de la Paz	Dove	Eduardo Terrazas and Lance Wyman	A stylized white dove, it represented the slogan of the games, "Los juegos de la Paz", ("Games of the Peace").
1972 Summer Olympics	Munich	Waldi	dachshund dog	Otl Aicher	A popular breed in Bavaria, it represented the attributes required for athletes - Resistance, Tenacity and Agility.
1976 Winter Olympics	Innsbruck	Schneemann	Snowman		It represents the Games of Simplicity.
1976 Summer Olympics	Montréal	Amik	beaver	Yvon Laroche, Pierre-Yves Pelletier, Guy St-Arnaud and George Huel	One of the national symbols of Canada
1980 Winter Olympics	Lake Placid	Roni	raccoon	Donald Moss	Its face design resembles the hat and goggles used by competitors. Named for the Adirondack Mountain range.
1980 Summer Paralympics	Arnhem	Unnamed	a pair of squirrels		Possibly the first Paralympic mascots when those Games were still called the World Disabled Games.
1980 Summer Olympics	Moscow	Misha	bear cub	Victor Chizhikov	The Bear was the national symbol of the Soviet Union.
1984 Winter Olympics	Sarajevo	Vučko	little wolf	Joze Trobec	Symbolizing the desire of humans to befriend animals. According to the IOC, it helped change the common perception in the region of wolves as frightening and blood-thirsty.
1984 Summer Olympics	Los Angeles	Sam	bald eagle	Robert Moore (The Walt Disney Company)	The symbol of the United States.
1988 Winter Olympics	Calgary	Hidy and Howdy	Two polar bears	Sheila Scott	Both represent Western Canadian hospitality.
1988 Summer Olympics	Seoul	Hodori and Hosuni	two tiger cubs	Hyun Kim	Common in Korean legends.
1988 Summer Paralympics	Seoul	the "Komduri"	two Asian black bears.
1992 Winter Olympics	Albertville	Magique	man-star/snow imp	Philippe Mairesse
1992 Summer Olympics	Barcelona	Cobi	a cubist Catalan Sheepdog	Javier Mariscal
1992 Summer Paralympics	Barcelona	Petra	a stylized girl without arms
1994 Winter Olympics	Lillehammer	Håkon and Kristin	two Norwegian children		Both are dressed in traditional Norwegian clothes.
1994 Winter Paralympics	Lillehammer	Sondre	troll, an amputee	Tor Lindrupsen	The name was chosen in a competition and derives from the great skiing pioneer Sondre Nordheim.
1996 Summer Olympics	Atlanta	Izzy	an abstract figure		the first computer-generated mascot
1996 Summer Paralympics	Atlanta	Blaze	a colorful phoenix		The phoenix is the symbol of the city of Atlanta.
1998 Winter Olympics	Nagano	The Snowlets - Sukki, Nokki, Lekki and Tsukki	four owls		Representing the four major islands of Japan. The first syllable of each name combines phonetically to create the word "Snowlets".
1998 Winter Paralympics	Nagano	Parabbit	a white rabbit (1 red & 1 green ear)
2000 Summer Olympics	Sydney	Olly (from Olympic)	kookaburra	Matthew Hatton	Representing the Olympic spirit of generosity.
		Syd (from Sydney)	Platypus		Representing the environment and energy of the people of Australia.
		Millie (from Millennium)	echidna		Representing the millennium.
		2000 Summer Paralympics	Sydney	Lizzie [1]	Frill-necked Lizard	Her frill was shaped like the combined islands of Australia and Tasmania
2002 Winter Olympics	Salt Lake City	Copper	coyote		representing Higher
		Powder	snowshoe hare		representing Faster
		Coal	bear		representing Stronger. 3rd Olympic bear mascot.	File:Olympic-mascots-salt-lake-city.jpg
2002 Winter Paralympics	Salt Lake City	Otto	otter		the otter was chosen because it embodies vitality and agility; and some ancient Indian tribes considered the otter to be one of the most powerful of all animals.
2004 Summer Olympics	Athens	Athena and Phevos	brother and sister	Spyros Gogos	Two modern children resembling ancient Greek dolls.	File:Athena-phevos.jpg
2004 Summer Paralympics	Athens	Proteas	colorfully-striped seahorse
2006 Winter Olympics	Turin	Neve and Gliz	A humanized snowball and ice cube	Pedro Albuquerque
2006 Winter Paralympics	Turin	Aster	A humanized snowflake			[2]
2008 Summer Olympics	Beijing	The Fuwa: Beibei (贝贝), Jingjing (晶晶), Huanhuan (欢欢), Yingying (迎迎), Nini (妮妮)	Fish, giant panda, Olympic Flame, Tibetan antelope, swallow	Han Meilin	Collectively "The Fuwa". The 5 names form the Chinese phrase "Beijing huan ying ni"(北京欢迎你), which means "Beijing welcomes you".Each representing an Olympic ring and feung shui element. Note: The picture is one of the mascots. To see more, click here.
2008 Summer Paralympics	Beijing	Fu Niu LeLe	Multi-colored cow
2010 Winter Olympics	Vancouver	Miga	Mythical sea bear	Vicki Wong and Michael Murphy (Meomi Design)	Part orca and part kermode bear
		Quatchi	A sasquatch		Part of Canadian legends.
		Mukmuk	A Vancouver Island Marmot		Not an official mascot, but their designated sidekick
2010 Winter Paralympics	Vancouver	Sumi	A mythical creature		With wings of a Thunderbird, legs of a black bear, and a hat of an orca whale. Part of Canadian legends.
2010 Summer Youth Olympics	Singapore	Lyo and Merly	A lion cub and a merlion cub		The official mascots of the first Summer Youth Olympic Games. They represent the Singaporean culture.
2012 Summer Olympics	London	TBA	TBA	TBA
2012 Summer Paralympics	London	TBA	TBA	TBA
2014 Winter Olympics	Sochi	TBA	TBA	TBA
2014 Winter Paralympics	Sochi	TBA	TBA	TBA
2016 Summer Olympics	Rio de Janeiro	TBA	TBA	TBA
2016 Summer Paralympics	Rio de Janeiro	TBA	TBA	TBA

See also

• Olympic symbols

References

External links

• Official site of the Olympic Movement - Images and information on every game since 1896
• Top 10 Worst Olympic Mascots
• OlympicHistory.info: Mascots (in Russian)
• Canadian Olympic Mascots 1976 - 2010