Olympic mascot

The Olympic mascots are fictional characters, usually an animal native to the area or human figures, who represent the cultural heritage of the place where the Olympic and Paralympic Games are taking place. The mascots are often used to help market the Olympic Games to a younger audience, in particular toddlers and children. Ever since the 1968 Winter Olympics in Grenoble, France, the Olympic Games have always had a mascot. The first major mascot in the Summer Olympic Games was Misha in the 1980 Summer Olympics in Moscow. Starting with the 2010 Vancouver mascots, the Olympic and Paralympic mascots have been presented together.

The first Olympic mascot was born at the Grenoble Olympic Games in 1968. It was named “Schuss” and it was a little man on skis, designed in an abstract form and painted in the colors of France: blue, red and white. However, the first official Olympic mascot appeared in the 1972 Summer Olympics in Munich. It was Waldi, a Dachshund dog, a popular breed in Bavaria and it represented the attributes required for athletes – resistance, tenacity and agility. On it we can see three of the colors of the Olympic flag (blue, yellow, green).

The success of those first mascots helped the idea of a mascot become a symbol of the Olympic Games and developed into an institution. Mascots are very popular and despite the importance of the message they convey, they are designed in simple manner with bright, happy colors appropriate for the ‘festive’ atmosphere of the Olympic Games.

The mascots for the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens, were Phevos and Athena, two dolls inspired by a bell-shaped archaic sculpture that is on display at the National Archaeological Museum of Athens. In ancient times, these dolls, the ‘daidala’, as they were called, were also items of worship as well as toys. Phevos and Athena are brother and sister and so they symbolize the joy of play and the values of Olympism. The choice of a brother and sister was purposely made to promote the values of equality and brotherhood.

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