Winter Olympic Mascots from 1968 to now
It was during the 1968 Grenoble Winter Olympics that the first mascot published in large numbers made its appearance. It is not recognized as “official” by the IOC, but has been very successful with the public. Since then, except in Sapporo in 1972, all the Olympiads have designated one or more mascots.
Grenoble 1968 (France), Shuss
Shuss, the 1st non official olympic mascot, depict a stylized skiing man with France colors (blue, white, red). It was designed by Aline Lafargue.
Innsbruck 1976 (Austria), Scheenmandl
Schneemandl (snowman in german) was the 1st official winter games mascot.
Lake Placid 1980 (USA), Roni the racoon
Roni, a raccoon designed by Don Moss, was the substitute of Rocky, a live raccoon unfortunately died before the games.
Sarajevo 1984 (Yugoslavia), Vučko the wolf
Vucko, the wolf, designed by Joze trebec, was elected by yugoslavian newspaper readers between other finalists as a snowball, a chamois, a squirrel, a lamb, and a porcupine.
Calgary 1988 (Canada), Hidy and Howdy, the bears
For the 1st time, a mascots pair is coming, it’s polar bears, brother (Hidy)
and sister (Howdy) designed by Sheila Scott of Great Scott Productions. Their name was chosen in a contest sponsored by the Calgary zoo.
Albertville 1992 (France), Magic the elf
Magic, the small elf like a star, was designed by Philippe Mairesse to replace
the chamois officially presented for the closing ceremony at Calgary.
Lillehammer 1994 (Norway), Kristin the princess and Hakon the prince
1st mascots pair as human, Haakon and Kristin are 2 children from norwegian folklore.
Nagano 1998 (Japan), Sukki, Nokki, Lekki and Tsukki the owls
At starting-point, the mascot imagined for the Nagano Games was a weasel named “snowple”, then it was replaced by 4 small snow owls, the snowlets.
Salt Lake City 2002 (USA), Copper the coyote, Coal the black bear and Powder the hare
The mascots from american folklore were chosen for illustrate the Olympic Games motto, faster (citius) with Powder, the snowshoe hare, higher (altius) with Copper, the coyote and stronger (fortius) with Coal, the black bear. Designer Landor.
Torino 2006 (Italy), Gliz the ice cube and Neve the snowball
Designed by Pedro Albuquerque, the Torino’s mascots present the supports of winter sports with Neve, the snowball and Gliz, the ice cube.
Vancouver 2010 (Canada), Miga the sea bear, Quatchi the sasquatch and Mukmuk the marmot friend of the mascots
The Vancouver’s mascots are imaginary characters directly inspired of local legends. Quatchi is a young sasquatch who comes from the mysterious forests of Canada and Miga is a young sea bear who lives in the ocean with her family pod, beyond Vancouver Island, near Tofino, British Columbia. They were created by the graphic studio Meomi.
Sochi 2014 (Russia), the hare, the leopard and the polar bear
Sochi mascots are characters from a competition organized by the Russian authorities, after a selection by a jury, the most popular were subjected to a public vote on television. The leopard lives in the uppermost branches of a huge tree, on the highest peak of the snowy mountains in the Caucasus.
PyeongChang 2018, Soohorang the white tiger
He is a white tiger which has been long considered Korea’s guardian animal.
Beijing 2022, Bing Dwen Dwen the panda
Bing Dwen Dwen is encased in a full-body “shell” made of ice, and the heart shape in its left palm represents the host country’s hospitality. The bright colours of the halo around its face represent ice and snow sport tracks, signifying connectivity and advanced technologies.
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