Miga, Quatchi, and Sumi (who had a sidekick, Mukmuk) were the mascots for the 2010 Winter Olympics and the 2010 Winter Paralympics. The four mascots were introduced on November 27, 2007. They were designed by the Canadian and American duo, Meomi Design. It was the first time the Olympic and Paralympic mascots were introduced at the same time.
The emblem of 2010 Winter Olympics, "Ilanaaq the Inukshuk", was picked through an open contest. However, it met criticism from some aboriginal groups over its design. So the mascot artist was selected through a competition.
Through the process where 177 professionals around the world were submitted their ideas, five were made final. In December 2006, VANOC eventually selected concepts from Meomi Design. Formed in 2002, Meomi is a group of Vicki Wong, a Vancouver-born Canadian of Chinese descent who worked in graphic and web design, and Michael Murphy, born in Milford, Michigan, who worked in design and motion graphics. Writing for Sports Illustrated, experts Michael Erdmann and John Ryan, while making comments on the mascots of the Olympic Games held in Canada, pointed out that Meomi's character drawing styles "are more closely related to Urban Vinyl [...]".
After the selection, Meomi provided more than 20 different concepts to VANOC, and three concepts were selected. The conception of the mascots were based on the local wildlife, as well as First Nations legends, mythologies and legendary creatures. During the design process, an early name for Quatchi was dismissed when the undisclosed word was found to have a rude connotation in another language. An animated video by Buck, a design studio based in New York and Los Angeles, with music provided by Kid Koala was screened on the first public presentation of the mascots. Details about mascots were kept secret until November 27, 2007 when they were unveiled to the public.
The first public presentation of the mascots took place before 800 schoolchildren at the Bell Centre For Performing Arts in Surrey, British Columbia. This represents the first time that the Olympic and Paralympic mascots were introduced at the same time. The mascots are: