The History of Every Official Summer & Winter Olympic Mascot

Currently the 2024 Summer Olympic games are taking place in Paris France. So what better time could there be to discuss the history of every official Summer and Winter Olympic mascot. I also rank them since there are so many. So stick around to the end to see what I consider to be the best 3 Olympic mascots, and who will get the Olympic gold medal! Leave a like and a subscription and MAYBE I'll make a video on every Paralympic Mascot (Emphasis on maybe).

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Thanks for watching!!! (I barely released this one on time didn't I?)

[MrTele-Tell]

Regrettably, I had to remove the smokey entry due to copyright issues, which is why the transition to Schuss is so jarring now

[NM_______________________]

My favorite is either Cobi or Vinicius. But the real question is if all the mascots fought who would win. Honestly i am going to have to say Roni because he had a gun and is sneaky, due to being a raccoon

[Andla_]

I liked this Olympic Mascots' review video!!! My favorite mascots are Misha, Hodori, Cobi, the Snowlets, Nini, Vinicius and Phryge.

[toxr]

Honestly, Phoebus and Athena are the best mascots for me. I really like the fact they look minimalistic and not creepy (as with some other olympic mascots).

[AverytheCubanAmerican]

The 1968 Summer Olympics in Mexico City had an unofficial mascot as well, named Chac Mool, a pink jaguar! Chac Mool means "great jaguar" in Yucatec Maya and was based off a throne of a pink jaguar found inside the Kukulkan/El Castillo pyramid at Chichén Itzá. Waldi was created by designer Otl Aicher, who was also responsible for designing the logo for Lufthansa! Waldi was based on a long-haired Dachshund named Cherie von Birkenhof. He was designed to match the colors of the Olympic rings, ergo, blue, yellow, orange and green. However, there were no black or red, which was a conscious decision by Aicher because those were colors related to the National Socialist Party's rule over Germany as they occupied much of Europe during WWII, thus they chose orange instead. And Vinicius de Moraes is no ordinary Brazilian musician, he was the co-writer of the famous bossa nova song The Girl from Ipanema! He wrote it alongside Antônio Carlos "Tom" Jobim, which is why the Rio 2016 mascots are named Vinicius and Tom! Vinicius represents Brazil's fauna while Tom represents its flora, and together, they symbolize Brazil having the greatest biodiversity on the planet! And for Tokyo 2020, it's a cool fact to mention regarding the vote that only elementary schools voted! Between December 2017 and February 2018, an election was conducted across 16, 769 Japanese elementary schools to choose the winning entry, with each participating elementary school class allocated one vote. In total, 205, 755 elementary school classes participated in the election, which was about 75% of elementary schools in Japan

Hodori does NOT mean tiger in Korean! The "Ho" (호) part of Hodori is derived from the actual Korean word for tiger which is "horangi"/호랑이 (hence the horang part of Soohorang) while "dori" (돌이) is a diminutive for boys in Korean. As mentioned, Koreans chose a tiger for both 1988 and 2018 because while wild Amur/Siberian tigers are no longer found in Korea, tigers are historically important in Korean culture. The tiger is viewed as the guardian of the Korean people, and the Korean Peninsula is said to resemble a tiger. Baekho, the white tiger, is described in myths and narratives as a divine imaginary animal that watches over the mountains and nature. In the myth of Dangun, the founder of Gojoseon, a bear and a tiger wished to become human beings. The bear turned into a woman by observing the commandments to eat only mugwort and garlic for 100 days in a cave, but the tiger could not endure the ordeal and ran off, failing to realize its wish. The bear gave birth to Dangun. Pyeongchang 2018's Soohorang is the continuity of Hodori, while the Pyeongchang 2018 Paralympics's Bandabi is the continuity of Gomdoori from the 1988 Summer Paralympics.

[brycedownpitch]

Rio 2016 was my introduction to the Olympics and I've looked forward to both summer and winter games ever since. Vinicius was also my introduction to the Olympic Mascot and what a hell of an introduction. He is still a top 2 mascot for me to this day; Hodori is my #1.

And then Sam The Eagle is #3 because 'Murica. 🇺🇸

[AverytheCubanAmerican]

Miga is specifically part Kermode bear, which is an American black bear subspecies found only on the coast of British Columbia. Some of these bears are white, and the white variant is known as the spirit bear! According to First Nations’ legend, Kermode bears were turned white by Raven to remind people of the Ice Age. Orcas are also honored in the art and stories of West Coast First Nations, as travelers and guardians of the sea. And Mukmuk is specifically a Vancouver Island marmot, a rare species, and it is one of only five land mammals endemic to Canada. All of the 2010 Olympic and Paralympic mascots represent a First Nation, as well as a part of the Vancouver region. Miga represents Vancouver and the Musqueam Indian Band, Quatchi represents West Vancouver and the Lil'wat First Nation, Sumi represents Whistler and the Squamish Nation, and the unofficial one Mukmuk represents Richmond and the Tsleil-Waututh First Nation. The four First Nations mentioned were the Four Host First Nations of the games, as part of a protocol they signed in 2004 in support of them. Miga lives off the coast of Vancouver Island, Quatchi lives in a mysterious forest, Sumi lives in Whistler, and Mukmuk lives on Vancouver Island. Mukmuk's name comes from the Chinuk Wawa word "muckamuck, " meaning "food" or "to eat".

And the Fuwa have a lot more symbolism! If you take a piece of each of their names, Bei, Jing, Huan, Ying, Ni, together, the names form the sentence "北京欢迎你/Beijing huanying ni, " which means "Beijing welcomes you". While originally given artistic licence in his commission, Han Meilin was subsequently requested by officials to include various Chinese designs and fauna in the Fuwa. Huanhuan took his motif from not just the Olympic flame, but also the fire design from the Mogao Caves, a system of 500 Buddhist temples located southeast of the center of Dunhuang, an oasis located at a religious and cultural crossroads on the Silk Road, in Gansu province. Huanhuan's elemental motif is of course fire. Yingying wasn't just based off the Tibetan antelope, but also Tibetan and Xinjiang ethnic costumes. The Tibetan antelope is an endangered species native to the Tibetan Plateau, known for its swiftness. His elemental motif is earth. For Nini, a sand martin (bank swallow) is a messenger of spring and happiness in Chinese culture and is seen as a symbol of good fortune. The Chinese character for swallow (燕 yàn) is also used in Yanjing (燕京), an old name for Beijing. Thus, the swallow alludes to Beijing. Her elemental motifs are sky and metal. Jingjing's element motifs are the forest and wood. The panda has become an international symbol of environmentalism. Jingjing's forest origins also symbolize the harmonious coexistence of humankind and nature. And Beibei's elemental motif is of course water. In traditional Chinese culture, the fish represents prosperity, as the character for fish (鱼 / 魚; yú) sounds the same as that for surplus (余 / 餘; yú). The "carp leaping over the dragon gate" is a traditional allegory of following one's dreams and achieving them. The pattern from Beibei's headgear comes from artifacts unearthed at Banpo, site of a Neolithic village of the Yangshao culture.

[CitronCassis]

The Phryges because they are unhinged and funny !
And I liked their final costumes (shiny phryge, volunteer phryge, swimmer Leon Marchand Phryge… ), that was a fantastic idea 😂

[vincenzosama]

I feel bad about saying this, but I actually like Whinlock from London 2012 lmao.

I was raised in the 2010's and this dudes represent this era vibe well imo, I like how they are not just the regular cute animals mascots nut more "cool" and kinda "edgy".

Not so much of a high note tho, I would give a 5.5/10 or 6/10. Not awesome but at least more original in a different way. If they have him more color than just make it just silver would be better ngl.

Also his lore is actually pretty creative? I wish more mascots had those types of backgrounds lol

[TheHannahBarbosa]

Vinicius is the best, the charisma is amazing

[joannedj]

I absolutely ❤ the Phryges! Would give them way more than 5/10.

Please do the Paralympic mascots next!

[QuantumCocytus]

Thank you for this informative video!
My favorite is between Misha & the Snowlets, they are so precious in their own ways hahahah

[BlackHeart]

Naaaahhh, that polar bear rip-off is criminal, how did they get away with that 😂

[dreamlikeachild]

Awesome video! Very entertaining, and the amount of research behind it is amazing. Thank you!

Waldi superiority, his shape and colour scheme are amazing💚🧡🩵💛💙

[forTehMemes]

loving all the olympic content thats getting reccomended to me. can't wait to see what the future mascots will look like in 26 and 28

[Whyismileyfacetaken]

Amazing video!! My favourite is Vucko, he just looks so mischievous

[takeuchikitty]

Mostly, my favourites are Vinicius and Tom, Miraitowa and Someity, Soohoorang, and Hodori. Those are the most that appeal to me. But I respect your opinions. Nice video and fair rating, keep it up!

[joannedj]

The polar bear from Sochi 2014 definitely looked like a winter version of Misha from Moscow 1980!

[ThompsonSteamtrain]

Imagine if bluey and bingo became Olympic mascots for the city of Brisbane Australia.

[Liggliluff]

(7:45) The name isn't Vucko, but Vučko, and the Č is pronounced like the English Ch in "chair", so "Vootchko" is the closest English spelling.
(Do mind that you can't just strip diacritics from letters, C and Č are different letters with different pronunciations, like how you see E and F as different letters)