Waldi

Waldi
Waldi, the logo of the 1972 Summer Olympic Games
Known for	Official Olympic mascot
Term	1972
Successor	Amik, the Beaver

Waldi was the first official Olympic mascot. Created for the 1972 Summer Olympics in Munich, he was a dachshund, a popular breed of dog from Germany. The course of the marathon was designed to incorporate the Waldi design, and during the construction phase of the 1972 Olympic stadium and village, Waldi was used in unofficial satirical posters.

Waldi was created by German designer Otl Aicher, who amongst others was also responsible for designing the logo for German airline Lufthansa. The Dachshund was the first official Olympic mascot, as the 1968 Winter Olympics was the first to use an unofficial mascot, which was red ball on skis named "Schuss". Waldi was designed to represent the attributes described as required for athletes — , and agility.

Waldi was based on a real long-haired Dachshund named Cherie von Birkenhof, which Aicher used as a model. Although Waldi appeared in a variety of different color schemes, it is occasionally reported that the main scheme was designed to match the colors of the Olympic rings, ergo, blue, green yellow, orange and green. However, there were no black or red in the main scheme, which was a conscious decision on the part of Aicher to exclude those colors related to the National Socialist Party. The 1972 games were designed to be an optimistic "Rainbow Games".

Fifty licences were granted to manufacturers, at a minimum licensing fee of 245,000 Deutschmarks, and over two million Waldi related items were sold around the world. Waldi was available as a plush toy, a plastic toy, and appeared on buttons, posters and stickers, and as a pin. However, the pin bearing Waldi didn't come out until several years after the Olympics.