3. Mexico 1968 Olympics
The trend for Olympic mascots
began back in 1968 with this
unofficial icon for the Mexico
City games, a dove of peace that
represented the games’ slogan –
“Los juegos de la Paz” (“Games
of Peace”) – ironic given ‘The
Night of Tlatelolco‘, a
government massacre of
student and civilian protesters
and bystanders, took place just
ten days before the games
began….
4. Munich 1972 Olympics
Based on a real life Dachshund
named Cherie von Birkenhof,
‘Waldi’ – designed by creator of
the Rotis font family, Otl Aicher
– was the friendly face of
Munich’s troubled 1972 games
and the first official Olympic
mascot.
There were no black or red in the
main scheme, a conscious
decision by Aicher to exclude
colours related to the Nazi Party
5. Montreal 1976 Olympics
Fascinatingly minimalist, 1976′s
mascot – Amik – looked more like a
Spectrum ZX in this image (the
standard icon featured just one, red
stripe) than a warm, friendly
Olympic mascot. Symbolising ‘hard
work’ and being native to Canada,
the beaver was chosen as
Montreal’s mascot – and in many
ways, its simplistic form harked back
four years to Otl Aicher’s Waldi.
6. Moscow 1980 Olympics
Russia’s mascot for the 1980 Moscow
games was, of course, a bear… Misha,
also known as Mishka, was designed
by Victor Chizhikov – an illustrator of
over 100 children’s books – and, having
been used extensively throughout the
games, was the first mascot of a
sporting event to achieve large-scale
commercial success as merchandise,
even finding his way to a Japanese
anime cartoon……
Misha was the first Olympic mascot to
have a girlfriend
7. Los Angeles 1984 Olympics
‘Sam the Olympic Eagle’ appeared as
a mascot for L.A’s 1984 games and
was a typically American affair –
strong in national identity, being a
bald eagle (the national bird) and
sharing a name with Uncle Sam, the
famous personification of the USA.
Interestingly, Sam continued Misha’s
evolution from graphical icon to a
mascot with identity that could be
used in multiple situations…
Sam was designed by C. Robert
Moore, an artist for Disney
8. Seoul 1988 Olympics
With a standard now seemingly in
place for the Olympic mascot – child
friendly characters with a huge
cross-medium approach to use and
merchandising – designer Kim
Hyun’s creation for the 1988 Seoul
Olympics was ‘Hodori’, a friendly
Siberian tiger who appeared in
various forms around the city and
can still be seen today.
The name Hodori was chosen from
thousands that were sent in by the
Korean public
9. Barcelona 1992 Olympics
A cubist interpretation of a Catalan
Sheepdog inspired by Picasso – it had
to be Barcelona… and Cobi, designed
by artist Javier Mariscal, is so very akin
to the Catalan capital’s unique style.
Massively successful, both in
popularity and commercially, Cobi was
seen in advertisements for the likes of
Coca-Cola and Danone and even
appeared in his own TV show.
Originally derided by the locals for
bastardising Spanish icon, Picasso –
Cobi, along with the game’s
transformation of the city, was hailed
as a hero by the end of the Olympics
10. Atlanta 1996 Olympics
There’s not much can be said for poor Izzy,
the mascot for Atlanta’s 1996 games…. it
seemed as though Cobi’s ten steps forward
had been ignored in favour of an
indeterminable ‘thing’, that during his
lifetime underwent a number of changes –
slimming to appear more ‘athletic’, growing
a nose and losing the stars in his eyes
amongst them. If Izzy did have one lasting
impression however, it would be that – just
like our own Wenlock and Mandeville – you
no longer had to be, well… ‘anything at all’
to be an Olympic mascot.
Izzy was the first computer generated
mascot, and even had his own computer
game – ‘Izzy’s Quest for the Olympic Rings’
11. Sydney 2000 Olympics
In 1997, as part of an official competition,
Sydney-based graphic designer, Matthew
Hatton, decided – like John Ryan, senior
animation director of Atlanta-based design
firm DESIGNefx, who designed the tragic
‘Izzy’ – to blatantly ignore the success of
Cobi and, well, actually just ignore the last 20
years and follow Victor Chizhikov’s semi-
realistic illustration style of Moscow’s
Misha…. delivering the horribly
uncomfortable trio of Olly, Syd and Millie – a
kookaburra, platypus and echidna
respectively. Sydney’s millennium games
were widely hailed as the best of all time,
whether these disturbing little creatures had
anything to do with that is wildly unlikely
12. Athens 2004 Olympics
Whilst we may have been singing the praises of
Cobi, and indeed deriding the subsequent attempts
for not following Mariscal’s lead – we wouldn’t have
quite opted for a blatant rip off in the way that
Greek designer Spyros Gogos appeared to do with
Athena and Phevos for Greece’s last-minute 2004
games. Causing great controversy at the time for
“savagely insulting” Classical Greek culture – they
were loosely based upon an archaic Greek terra
cotta daidala from the 7th century BC – siblings
Athena and Phevos were as much offensive for their
off-putting oafishness that made them look like
Cobi’s ‘simple’ relatives…..
Athena and Phevos were described on the official
Beijing 2008 website as having “whacking feet,
longish necks and puny heads” – factually this is
correct, however maybe someone could have a
word with Chinese, introducing them to the art of
the ‘euphemism’……
13. Beijing 2008 Olympics
The latest Olympic mascots are of
course those from Beijing’s recent
games – the Olympics that for us will
always be remembered for Herzog &
de Meuron’s spectacular ‘bird’s nest’
stadium. The Fuwa (literally meaning
‘good-luck dolls’), continued on from
‘Olly, Syd and Millie’ and ‘Athena and
Phevos’ before them, in that they
didn’t come alone – as previous
Olympic mascots had done. The
group of five – Beibei, Jingjing,
Huanhuan, Yingying, and Nini – each
had a rhyming two-syllable name, a
traditional way of expressing
affection for children in China.
14. London 2012 Olympics
Born from drops of steel from
London’s 2012 Olympic stadium, and
their names are inspired by Much
Wenlock in Shropshire and Stoke
Mandeville in Buckinghamshire, two
towns with Olympic history at their
heart – ‘Much Wenlock Games’
predated the modern games, whilst
Stoke Mandeville is the birthplace of
the Paralympics, for whom
‘Mandeville’ is the new official
mascot. Along with his friend
‘Wenlock’, the pair – designed by
agency Iris – have already caused
much discussion.
15. How many events will be a part of
the 2012 Olympics?
oThere are 302
events scheduled
in 26 sports.
16. Which member of the royal family is supposed
to compete in the 2012 Summer Olympics?
oZara Philips is a
member of the
equestrian team.
17. Which of these sports will not appear
at the 2012 games?
o Cricket, Baseball, and
Softball will be absent
from the games.
18. How many nations have qualified to
go to the summer games?
o204 – Nations
can also
compete
under the
Olympic flag
19. What is the motto of the 2012 games?
o Inspire a generation o One World – One Dream
from last summer Olympics
20. What is the slogan used for all of the
Olympic Games?
o Swifter, Higher, Stronger -
The Olympic slogan is the
hendiatris Citius, Altius,
Fortius, which is Latin for
'Swifter, Higher,
Stronger'.
21. Which Olympic event is going to take place at
Greenwich Park during the 2012 Summer Olympics?
o Equestrian
22. One of the summer 2012 swimming Olympic
events will be held outside. Where is it being
held?
o The Serpent - The
Serpentine is a 28-acre
lake in Hyde Park.
23. How did the Olympic flame arrive in
England?
o Airplane - The flame
arrived on flight BA2012.
24. Which sport had to be granted a special
dispensation to allow it to be held in England?
o Shooting - Some of the
shooting events would be
illegal under the current
UK gun laws.
25. As part of the Olympic festivities, which movie has
been re-mastered and will be shown in over 100
different cinemas?
o Chariots of Fire - The movie
has also been adapted to a
play, which will open at
Hampstead Theatre.
o Released March 1981
26. Which country will be hosting the
2016 games?
o Istanbul
o Madrid
o Tokyo
will be the candidate host
cities for 2020.
