Odd Olympic Mascots
#15 Singapore 2010
And, here we are: Lyo and Merly. Lyo and Merly, a duo of a red male lion and a blue female Merlion. What's a Merlion? Glad you asked. The Merlion has the head of a lion and the body of a fish. These guys took six months to create. Really? Lyo had a motto: "Never say never." Merly had a motto too: "You can achieve anything if you pour your heart into it!" Color me inspired.
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15:
Singapore 2010
And, here we are: Lyo and Merly. Lyo and Merly, a duo of a red male lion and a blue female Merlion. What's a Merlion? Glad you asked. The Merlion has the head of a lion and the body of a fish. These guys took six months to create. Really? Lyo had a motto: "Never say never." Merly had a motto too: "You can achieve anything if you pour your heart into it!" Color me inspired.
14:
Moscow 1980
Here's Misha, the Russian bear mascot of the 1980 Olympics. We're giving Moscow a lot of credit for coming up with a very straightforward mascot: Russia. Bears. And it really worked. Misha was the first mascot to achieve wide-spread commercial success. Not bad for a communist country.
13:
Lillehammer 1994
These were the very first humanoid Olympic mascots, Haakon and Kristin. Haakon and Kristin are doll children from Norwegian folklore. Several pairs of real-life kids were hired by the Olympics to promote the games.
12:
Barcelona 1992
Cobi is a catalan sheepdog. He's inspired by Picasso's cubist period. Turned out that Cobi was so popular that he went on to star in his own television series. Now, that's success.
11:
Seoul 1988
Here's Hodori, the Olympic Tiger. Hodori is a good-natured tiger. Hodori is emblematic of the friendly and hospitable tradition of the Koreans. Why does he remind me of a breakfast cereal?
10:
Los Angeles 1984
Looks a bit familiar? Let's see... Los Angeles? Worldwide event? Need an image? Who you going to call? Walt Disney, of course. That's Sam, the eagle. Sam, as in Uncle Sam. Makes a lot of sense, doesn't it?
9:
Sarajevo 1984
Here's Vuchko, the cheerful wolf of the Sarajevo Olympics. Vuchko symbolized man's desire to befriend animals. Vuchko was also supposed to help change the image of the wolf from something to be feared to something to befriend.
8:
Munich 1972
Here's Waldi! A dachshund! As we all know so well, the dachshund is a symbol of resistance, tenacity and agility. It's also the symbol of joy. I didn't know that. I wonder if the dachshund knows that.
7:
Grenoble 1968
Schuss was the world's first Olympic mascot. Congratulations! It actually looks as if it has something to do with a sport. Schuss is a stylized skier. Why one skis? Why ask why?
6:
Vancouver 2010
Canada brought us this triad of mascots: Quatchi the Sasquatch, Miga the Sea Bear and Sumi the Thunderbird. The mascots were born from mythical creatures of the First Nations peoples of British Columbia. Sumi is the Paralympic mascot, a creature with the wings of a thunderbird, legs of a black bear, and a hat of an orca whale. The middle mascot is Quatchi the sasquatch. And on the right, Miga, part orca and part kermode bear. Got that? Don't worry, there isn't going to be a quiz.
5:
Athens 2004
Next stop on the crazy train is Athens where, once again, we endured multiple mascots, Athena and Phevos. Here, suffer through the official description: "The lovely mascots, Athena and Phevos, with their whacking feet, longish necks and puny heads, one in deep yellow and the other in deep blue, are based on dolls, thousands of years old, found at archaeological sites in Greece. Greek mythology had it that Phevos and Athena are brother and sister, named after two Greek gods: Phevos, the god of light and music, and Athena, goddess of wisdom and patron of the city of Athens."
4:
Salt Lake City 2002
Can we please give Mitt Romney the blame, er, I mean credit for this one? Please pay close attention because this gets complicated. Each of the three mascots had two names. Powder, the snowshoe hare, is also known as Faster. Copper the coyote was also called Higher. And Coal the bear was also known as Stronger. These mascots were, purportedly, based on Native myths. Well, at least the mascots weren't named after mythic figures from the Book of Mormon.
3:
Sidney 2000
We're delighted to introduce you to Olly the Kookaburra, Syd the Platypus and Millie the Echidna. The Kookaburra represents the spirit of generosity. The platypus represents the environment and the people of Australia. The Echidna represents the millenium. Why? Because the Sydney Olympics organizers said so, that's why. No move along.
2:
London 2012
Presenting this summer's Olympic mascots: Wenlock and Mandeville. Wenlock is the mascot for the Olympic games and Mandeville is the mascot for the paraolympic games. Here's where they're from: Winlock and Mandeville were "created" from the last two drops of steel used to construct the Olympic stadium in London. The lights on their heads are inspired by the lights on top of London taxis. And they constantly morph their appearance -- which makes them very difficult to remember. Winlock is names for Much Wenlock, a microscopic town in England where Olympic-style events were once held. Mandeville is named for the city of Stoke Mandeville where the paraolympics where created.
1:
Beijing 2008
China 2008. Everything was big. Remember the 1,000 drummers? So, in keeping with the hugeness theme, the Beijing Olympics decided to go with five mascots instead of one, each mascot colored-keyed to an Olympic ring color. Here's the line up, from left to right: Beibei the fish, Jingjing the panda, Huanhuan the Olympic flame, Yingying the Tibetan antelope and Nini the swallow. Here's the trivia bonus point: Put the names together and they spell “Beijing Welcomes You” in Chinese.
